RECENT NEWS

The London Branch and Surrey Discussion Centre is holding its next meeting at Tolworth Hospital on Wednesday 10 September 2008 at 5.30 pm.

Following the success of last year’s seminar on the topic, IHEEM is now planning a series of one-day seminars for later this year designed to provide a Decontamination update.

Are some engineers failing in their quest to become registered because they do not have access to a mentor?

Thousands of people across Sandwell in the West Midlands will benefit from a £80 million investment in new health and neighbourhood centres.

Plans to greatly improve the basic site infrastructure, including access roads, car parks and walkways, at Morriston Hospital in Swansea have been approved by Welsh Health Minister Edwina Hart.

The Engineering Council UK (ECUK) is to address the current lack of any professional qualification for IT and communication systems technicians by offering them the chance to apply for registration as information and communications technology technicians. Those meeting the competence requirements for entry onto the new register will be granted the post-nominal title ICTTech.

B.Braun Sterilog recently helped get operations at Birmingham’s The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital (ROH) rapidly back on schedule after problems in the hospital’s sterilising department forced it to cancel the majority of its operating lists over a three-day period.

BSI British Standards has published a new document which aims to prevent injury or death due to cross-connection between small bore connectors used in different fields of medical application.

The Department of Health is seeking good writers from the healthcare estates and facilities sector who are passionate about healthcare planning and design, up-to-date with the latest healthcare building engineering technology, and keen to share their knowledge, to help it shape upcoming titles in its successful HBN and HTM publication series.

Sustainable energy initiatives will drive the design of the new Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) for the Medical Research Council (MRC) at Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge, which will be engineered to closely resemble the form of an “X” chromosome and will link two asymmetrical blocks with a central atrium and social circulation space.

By demonstrating outstanding progress, the electro-biomedical engineering (EBME) department at Bedford Hospital NHS Trust has won the UK’s first Clinical Engineering Team of the Year Award.

Nuffield Hospitals, the UK’s largest healthcare charity, is re-branding as Nuffield Health in a move it says reflects its “new vision for healthcare”, and comes in the wake of the biggest programme of change in its 51-year history.

A facility said to be the UK’s biggest primary healthcare centre, the £30 million Aldershot Centre for Health, is entering its fit out phase, following practical completion of the 140,000ft2 building.

Deep cleaning issues, benchmarking, health and safety, the implications of an ageing workforce, staff development, environmental issues, and “working relationships” will be among the wide-ranging topics highlighted at the Healthcare Facilities Consortium’s 2008 Annual Conference in Oxford next month.

Trusts deemed by the Department of Health to be “failing” could soon see their management removed and a new team brought in from other parts of the NHS, NHS Foundation Trusts, or the private sector, under plans announced by Health Minister Ben Bradshaw (pictured).

PIC: Ivan Lewis

The NHS, reportedly Europe’s biggest employer, and a contributor of approximately 3% of England’s total carbon dioxide emissions, has published for consultation a Carbon Reduction Strategy that commits the service as a whole to reducing emissions by 60% by 2050 in all areas, including procurement, travel and building energy use.

The Institute of Healthcare Engineering and Estate Management would like to congratulate the following who had IHEEM grades awarded recently:

IHEEM has recently undertaken work with London South Bank University and its Medical Architecture Research Unit (MARU) to support the unit’s MSc in Planning Buildings for Health.

The Institute is keen to find out more about what members think should be its key short-to-medium term priorities, as well as to gauge opinions on member benefits, the IHEEM educational programme, and the content of Health Estate Journal.

The findings of a consultation into proposed changes to the professional recognition and qualifications afforded to UK engineers, including the replacement of the current title of Incorporated Engineer, will be reported to IHEEM members “as soon as they are available”.