RECENT NEWS

A BBC story last month claimed the NHS in England faces “a total bill” (over the contracts’ lifetime) of £65 billion for new PFI hospitals, meaning annual repayments take up more than 10% of some Trusts’ turnover.

Sixty-five years ago this month, as the Allied Forces celebrated Japan’s unconditional surrender, the first ever edition of “The Hospital Engineer Newsletter”, the forerunner to Health Estate Journal, was published.

Energy and sustainability remains the biggest issue facing facilities managers, according to registration figures for the IHEEM Annual Conference. Many prospective delegates are also looking for ideas and answers on design and construction and developing the lean estate.

The IHEEM Annual Conference at Healthcare Estates will open with a keynote address by David Flory CBE. In “The Future Direction of Healthcare” the Deputy NHS Chief Executive will give delegates an insight into the new way forward for the NHS.

Provider of mobile surgical services Vanguard and integrated FM specialist Generating Solutions Group (GSG) have formed a “strategic partnership” through which Vanguard’s provision of sophisticated mobile units will be bolstered by GSG’s offering of “highly specialised logistics, facilities management, and engineering services”.

Newcastle University has awarded fitout, construction, and management services specialist ISG a £7.1 million project by to create a “world class” health and ageing research facility at Newcastle General Hospital.

A healthcare facility claimed to be the UK’s first publicly-funded hospital to feature single bedrooms with en suite facilities throughout is on track to complete by mid-September, the contractor has confirmed.

Jon Prichard, who served on the Engineering Council’s Board from 2003 – 2007, and is currently chairman of trustees for the organisation’s pension scheme, has been appointed as the Council’s CEO.

Balfour Beatty Construction is to undertake the £15.9 million conversion of an existing office building at the Wellington Hospital in London’s St John’s Wood, said to be Europe’s largest private hospital, into a fivestorey “state-of-the-art” medical facility.

Health Facilities Scotland (HFS) has published the first consultation draft of a new guidance document designed to assist those planning and designing new or upgraded Central Decontamination Units, or CDUs. Views on the new document, “Scottish Health Planning Note 13 Part 1 – Decontamination Facilities:

The new Well Street Surgery in London’s Hackney, designed by architects Stock Woolstencroft, has opened on the site of a Victorian textile factory in Shore Road, close to the practice’s former home.

Workplace services provider the PHS Group has launched a new company, formed from the merger of two specialists in safety, Epsilon Test Services, and CLM Compliance, to offer “a multi-disciplinary service that delivers complete legislative compliance”.

KM Cleaning Services has won a threeyear contract with Quintiles – reportedly the only fully integrated bio and pharmaceutical services provider offering clinical, commercial, and capital solutions..

Radiology has witnessed a “technological evolution” in the past few decades, with the growth of digital radiology (DR) in particular fuelled by the clinical value of PACS systems.

A cutting edge cystic fibrosis (CF) centre being constructed at Sheffield’s Northern General Hospital will feature antimicrobial copper door furniture throughout in a bid to reduce the risk of healthcare-associated infections in particularly vulnerable patients.

Energy saving specialist Marshall Tufflex Energy Management (MTEM) has announced “an important new appointment “to its management team.

A new link bridge, designed by HLM Architects for NHS Kensington and Chelsea as part of the £15 million redevelopment of the East Pavilion at the St Charles’ Centre for Health and Wellbeing, a Grade II-listed former Victorian hospital in West London, has been completed.

It is a matter of public record which publicly-funded bodies have complied with the Energy Performance in Buildings Regulations by having a current Display Energy Certificate (DEC) on display.

Law firm Hempsons has completed what it dubs “a novel corporate transaction” – claimed to be England’s first of its type – for NHS Hull, involving the transfer of the healthcare body’s entire provider arm to City Health Care Partnership CIC (CHCP), a social enterprise formed as a community interest company limited by shares.

Modular building specialist Portakabin has completed its first project in “a pioneering new partnership” with renal care services provider Diaverum. The new, hired, satellite unit, recently opened at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust’s Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham, allows kidney disease patients to benefit from care closer to home.