RECENT NEWS

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”.

A series of one-day seminars designed to cover the latest updates to regulations relating to wiring and the use of electricity on healthcare premises is being planned by IHEEM for September and October.

IHEEM has been invited to nominate an outstanding engineer for The Royal Academy of Engineering Sir Frank Whittle Medal, established eight years ago to recognise “an outstanding, sustained engineering achievement contributing to the well-being of the nation”, and in 2009 to be awarded for “engineering innovations in healthcare”.

With today’s unprecedented focus on hospital hygiene, IHEEM says it is more important than ever that Trusts use only suitably qualified Authorising Engineers (Decontamination) (AE(D))s for specialist independent auditing of, and advice on, washer-disinfectors, sterilisers and sterilisation in hospital settings.

Up to 10 million hospital patients a year can now expect “lower incoming call charges, better service and more reliable equipment” says Hospedia, a new company which, subject to OFT approval, looks set to run over 80,000 NHS bedside systems UK-wide currently operated by Patientline UK and Premier Telesolutions.

Galliford Try has been awarded a £3.8 million contract to build Europe’s largest IVF Centre of its kind at Liverpool Women’s Hospital.

A continuing focus on hospital hygiene and safety, “systematic” measurement and publication of data for the first time on the care quality available at different hospitals, and strengthened rights for patients to choose their location and mode of treatment, with more information to aid “informed choices”, are among the new measures set out in the NHS Next Stage Review Final Report – “High Quality Care For All”.

New legislation accompanying the implementation of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive will mean “big changes ahead” for those managing public buildings, says ABBE, the Awarding Body for the Built Environment, which provides NVQs and VRQs to companies in the property, construction, surveying, planning, and project management fields.

Adare Private Hospital and Clinic, the new private healthcare facility in Adare, County Limerick on which construction started last month, has signed a management contract with Australian private hospital operator Ramsay Health Care, which will operate the facility from its opening in January 2010.