RECENT NEWS

A recent study by Montagnese & De Rui (2011) from Padova University, investigating the benefits of strong light signals administered in the morning on an 82-year-old female cirrhosis patient with a chronic tendency to sleep-wake inversion – causing both delayed wake-up time and disturbed night sleep – utilised the ‘Amadea’ wall-mounted luminaire developed by Brandon Medical’s partners, Derungs-Licht.

A group of senior nurses from several Hong Kong hospitals recently visited Eastwood Park in Gloucestershire, as part of a UK study tour arranged and cocoordinated by the specialist healthcare training facility in conjunction with the Hong Kong Hospital Authority.

Dave Hogan CEng FIET FInstLM, employed for the past 10 years at BAE Systems, most recently as manager of Engineering, Programmes & Support, has joined the Engineering Council as operations director.

Pegler Yorkshire has brought its wellknown Belmont range of commercial radiator valves under its ‘Pegler Commercial Valve Range’, which now offers a much wider portfolio.

NHS Lothian confirmed last month that it would be taking legal advice after an Edinburgh Royal Infirmary surgeon had to finish an operation by torchlight when maintenance workers at the health board’s ‘PFI provider’, Consort, allegedly failed to follow its ‘critical procedures’, turning off the electricity supply to two operating theatres ‘too early’ on 29 March as part of planned maintenance.

Ambius, a specialist in enhancing buildings through planting, scenting, and artwork, has launched a free Biophilia toolkit to explain how plants and natural elements should be used in building interiors for maximum benefit.

The British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM) has announced that it is part of the Asset Skills-led project to develop degree-level apprenticeships in facilities management.

Pride of place on C-TEC’s stand at this month’s IFSEC exhibition (14-17 May at Birmingham’s NEC), will be the company’s new ZFP multi-loop analogue addressable touchscreen controlled fire panel.

Medirest, the catering and support services provider to the healthcare market, has won a three-year contract worth £1.9 million per annum to provide catering and support services at South Bristol NHS Community Hospital.

Monodraught and building performance analysis specialist, IES, have developed Performance Components – ‘a revolutionary way of modelling natural ventilation systems’ using the IES Virtual Environment Suite.

IHEEM is delighted to announce that Peter Ball – Strategic Research director, BRE – has been added to the list of expert speakers who will present at an Institute seminar on sustainability issues in London this month.

IHEEM has taken the strategic decision to ‘review and revitalise’ its annual awards scheme to give the whole of the healthcare supply chain – rather than just the Institute’s members – the opportunity to participate.

A combination of seven plenary sessions and 24 stream sessions will offer attendees at this year’s Healthcare Estates annual conference in Manchester with ‘an unrivalled range and depth of content’, according to the conference’s organisers, i2i Events Group.

IHEEM’s newly appointed CEO, Julian Amey, says his priorities include broadening the Institute’s membership, further raising its profile and influence, building on its sound relationships with other engineering institutions and trade bodies, and developing its role as a high quality education and information provider to healthcare estates management and engineering professionals.

Will Beck, the High Wycombe-based furniture manufacturer, has launched an attractively finished patient chair designed specifically for healthcare applications which incorporates antimicrobial fabric, has features that make it quick and easy to clean, and is manufactured using traditional joinery methods to maximise its longevity.

Healthcare estates managers are proving to be highly receptive to a new programme of behavioural training that places participants ‘into bespoke situations that relate directly to the their day-to-day working environment’. Develop Training launched its MaTE (Managing a Technical Environment) behavioural training into the healthcare sector at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital, and is rolling it out to estates and facilities managers via ‘taster’ days.

Real Asset Management (RAM) is urging organisations such as NHS Trusts with ‘underperforming’ estates helpdesk and maintenance management software systems that require a more effective and efficient means of tracking their property and equipment assets to switch to its own ‘easy-to-use’ software system.

A new Eastwood Park one-day course, set to run from next month, will assist estates and facilities managers and electrical contractors with the requirements of the latest BS 7671 Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR).

Ingenieur Hospital Schweiz, the Swiss hospital engineering organisation, and organiser of the event, is calling for papers by 1 May this year for the IFHE (International Federation of Hospital Engineering) Europe’s 5th European Conference in Bern, which will take place in the Swiss city in 2013.

Existing and potential readers of HEJ can now log onto the magazine’s website (www.healthestatejournal.com) and register to read each issue, complete, in digital form, at a time and place convenient to them.