RECENT NEWS

A former head of estates and capital projects at Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust, who fraudulently earned £245,246 over a five-year period by making false claims about his credentials, has been sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment, suspended for a year, and to 200 hours of unpaid community work for fraud, following an NHS Counter Fraud Service investigation.

I would like to share how we, at The Dudley Group of Hospitals, manage the Legionella risk from our shower heads, particularly as regards regular de-scaling and disinfection.

NHS Hampshire and Solent Community Solutions Ltd (SCS) have announced the completion of the new Fareham Community Hospital, which will begin delivering services in early June.

The Engineering Council has welcomed proposals by Lord Sainsbury’s Technician Working Group for the creation of a Technician Council to promote registration of Engineering Technicians (EngTech) and Incorporated Engineers (IEng) – and their equivalents in science, health, and ICT.

Developing and “proving” the efficacy of combustion systems which both “reduce NOx emissions to minimal levels”, and “bring down electricity running and equipment capital costs”, has won Dunphy Combustion, a past winner of a Queen’s Award for Export, a 2010 Queens Award for Enterprise in Innovation.

With a need to refurbish three existing operating theatres, and replace their “ageing” plant, the Children’s University Hospital, Dublin called on VtV Solutions, a specialist in upgrading operating departments and validating ultra-clean ventilation systems, to help it devise a scheme that would ensure continuing use of as many theatres as possible.

The new-build 24-bed Malvern Community Hospital at Malvern Link, scheduled to open this autumn, will utilise renewable geothermal energy for heating, cooling, and hot water, using ground source heat pumps to harness solar energy absorbed by the earth.

Tom Ford (pictured), who left the company last year to join another business, has rejoined Howorth Air Technology as sales director. He will play a key role in influencing the direction the company takes following its recent acquisition by a new management team (HEJ – February 2010).

The Christie, one of Europe’s leading cancer centres, has opened its new radiotherapy centre in Oldham – reportedly the first UK facility of its kind, and aimed at providing cancer treatment closer to patients’ homes.

Eight leading UK engineering organisations last month, in the General Election run-up, issued a “comprehensive call for action” to ensure that engineering “makes the maximum contribution to solving Britain’s biggest challenges: the economy, the environment, education, infrastructure, and public services”.

A recently completed University of Worcester facility, designed for testing of pollen and other airborne allergens, can reportedly replicate “any environment on the planet – from the Sahara Desert to the Arctic”.

“Shaping the Future” will be the theme of a two-day conference and exhibition being staged by the Institute’s Northern Ireland Branch later this month at the Marine Court Hotel in Bangor.

The Institute’s Education Committee is currently considering the content for the IHEEM technical seminars to be run during 2011 and, explains events/education manager Jeff Pickering, would greatly welcome ideas for potential subject matter from members.

IHEEM has released fuller details of the agenda for three technical seminars being staged this year on “The role of practical risk management in estates”, with the first two to be held in London (18 May, at the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining) and Leeds (26 May, at the Thackray Museum) later this month.

March’s “Big Bang” Science fair, a two-day event held in Manchester aimed at encouraging young people to consider a career in the engineering and science sector, saw IHEEM head office personnel and North-West branch members field a wide range of questions from young visitors on the role and importance of healthcare engineering and estates management in a modern-day health service.

The 317 specialist shower panels supplied by Horne Engineering, designers, developers, and manufacturers, of thermostatic control products since 1909, are to be installed in bathroom pods by integrated panel system manufacturer WH Foster.

PegaSys is a simple, flexible access control system which allows key-based locks to be quickly and cost-effectively upgraded to electronic access control using the latest smart card technology.

The good looks and guaranteed lifetime antimicrobial performance of Marshall-Tufflex’s award-winning Odyssey Bio Trunking Solution made it the perfect choice for a refurbishment project within Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

People generally have a strong preference for natural daylight over electric lighting in a room, but in healthcare buildings, in particular, adequate indoor lighting is essential for staff and patients to move about in safety and perform their day-to-day tasks, and in creating a pleasing ambience.

Andrews Water Heaters has supplied two SOLARflo water heating systems, along with Queen’s Award-winning MAXXflo condensing water heaters, for Wolverhampton’s new Beacon Centre for the Blind.