RECENT NEWS

Having completed her first ever London Marathon on 25 April, raising almost £1,000 (including gift aid) for Macmillan Cancer Support, the Institute’s accounts manager Annabelle Morgan (HEJ – April 2010), has already put her name in the ballot for next year’s race.

With the opening of October’s Healthcare Estates 2010 event at its new Manchester Central venue (pictured) just months away, IHEEM says “a record-breaking number of high quality papers” have been submitted for the conference, while the range of topics has been significantly broadened.

The South-West branch’s evening seminar programme will continue this month and in September with two informative presentations.

Readers are reminded that the closing date for nominations for the 2010 IHEEM awards is 30 June (HEJ – April 2010).

Carrow Road, home of Norwich City FC, will be the venue for an evening meeting of IHEEM’s East Anglia branch on 1 July, at which Chris Parker, IHEEM recruitment and membership manager, will highlight the potential for future activities for a branch that, by its own admission, has not been especially active in recent years.

The media has been paying much attention to recent political discussion concerning the implementation of cuts and cost-saving measures across the NHS. While little has been said specifically about precisely where these cuts will be, or how efficiency savings will be made, it is clear that the NHS faces a prolonged period of cuts, and the need for increased efficiency during what are sure to be difficult times for us all.

Testo has upgraded its thermal imaging camera range, with all models now offering improved thermal sensitivity (NETD) and a TwinPix image overlay feature when images are viewed on a PC.

Organisations developing and implementing “smart living” systems and products are to be brought together at a London event which co-organiser PhoneAbility, a charity that promotes “accessible information communication technology to support older and disabled people’s needs”, says will aim to “stimulate greater co-operation in the future”.

Energy managers should be aware of two new points of Environment Agency (EA) guidance on the new Carbon Reduction Commitment scheme if they are to derive the maximum benefit, an energy and climate change consultancy has warned.

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”.