RECENT NEWS

Healthcare property specialist and infrastructure consultancy Capita Symonds has warned health service managers and potential new providers of “property risks” that it believes are inherent in the new health White Paper’s proposed reorganisation of the NHS (see also Healthcare Estates 2010 conference report, pages 21-28).

A London Branch seminar being held at the Henry VIII Hotel in Bayswater on 16 November will cover the topic of “No break (power) transfer solutions for hospitals”, with a presentation by John Sams, regional sales manager, ADCO Power Switching and Controls, at Emerson Network Power(UK).

Earlier this year the London Branch/ Surrey Discussion Centre visited the Natural History Museum in London’s South Kensington.

Expressions of interest are now being sought from training providers to develop and deliver the IHEEM Authorised Engineer Foundation Course.

A Spanish architectural and engineering firm, JG Consultants, with extensive experience in hospital projects, and which is affiliated to IFHE national member organisation the Asociacion Espanola de Ingenieria Hospitalaria (AEIH), is to lend its expertise to a project involving construction of a new maternity hospital in sub-Saharan Africa at Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.

IHEEM is supporting a London conference on 1 December, “Real cost savings for estates and facilities”, which promises to offer valuable guidance and help on how estates and facilities management personnel can “make real cost-saving changes” via “innovative approaches”; reducing operating costs; “rationalising” their estate, and fully realising their workforce’s potential.

An introduction to the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, examining what the legislation means for the “Responsible Person” and building owners, as well as risk assessment and the identification of potential fire hazards, and the topic of enforcement, will be presented at a South-West branch seminar in Bristol on 12 January.

With the Department of Health due to publish its revised HTM 07-01 technical memorandum on healthcare waste management next month, and the Environment Agency set to obtain new powers which IHEEM says could “entirely change the enforcement landscape for waste management regulation” by the year-end, the Institute is to stage two seminars on this key topic for estates and facilities professionals in Leeds and London next month.

Two Special Resolutions – one to reduce the number of Institute directors from the existing 25 to 13, with one director appointed from each of IHEEM’s UK branches, and the other to amend the organisation’s existing Articles of Association in respect of certain clauses on directors’ appointments, proceedings, and retirements, plus “housekeeping” changes, were unanimously approved at an IHEEM Extraordinary General Meeting held on 5 October during this year’s Healthcare Estates event.

In a claimed sector first, medical diagnostics group Labco and facilities management specialist Sodexo have formed a joint venture – Integrated Pathology Partnerships (iPP) – to enable UK healthcare organisations to outsource their pathology services.

Jubilee Gardens Health Centre and Library, described by architects Penoyre & Prasad as Ealing’s most ambitious healthcare project to date under the LIFT initiative, has been officially opened by MP for Ealing Southall, Virendra Sharma.

Airwave has completed the initial phase of installing ceiling-mounted televisions in single rooms and fourbedded bays at Newham General Hospital as part of a two-year phased programme to upgrade the hospital’s patient entertainment system, incorporating both hospital radio and Airwave’s information channel.

Electrolux Laundry Systems UK (ELS), which manufactures and distributes professional foodservice and laundry solutions, has opened a new, fully operational showroom, for use by both its direct customers, and its dealer network, in Luton.

Ecovert FM has begun service delivery to the newly built and refurbished North Middlesex University Hospital. The new-build part of the hospital spans 32,000 m2, and the retained estate, 34,000 m2.

Thanks to the medical skill of Northumbria Healthcare Trust, and the expertise of theatre communications specialists OR Networks, surgeons in Tanzania can now perform laparoscopic surgery with the advice and support of UK counterparts.

The Fire Protection Association (FPA) says its latest DVD release provides essential fire awareness training suitable for all staff in healthcare premises, from those working in wards, to specialist units and clinics.

Two public hospitals in Argentina’s second largest city, Cordoba, are to each receive seven Berchtold Operon B 710 operating tables and two trauma extension units.

The Altrax Group has acquired Scantrack Healthcare Systems (UK), a supplier of electronic instrument management and traceability systems to the healthcare market, in a move Altrax said would “secure and enhance” Scantrack’s future development.

Brandon Medical, the Leeds-based operating theatre light and medical audio-visual systems supplier, is among 53 regional finalists from across the UK competing to win a share of the £90 million prize being offered by the HSBC “Business Thinking Initiative”.

The British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM) and the Facilities Management Association (FMA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which they say will help both organisations provide enhanced services to their members, and “raise the profile of facilities management, through cooperation and collaboration”.