RECENT NEWS

The European Working Group for Legionella Infections (EWGLI) this year held its meeting in Rome, hosted by the Istituto Superiore di Sanita. There were representatives from many countries of the world and presentations detailing where outbreaks occurred, the epidemiology and actions taken. Presentations included treatment therapies and insights into the way LD bacteria are hosted in biofilm found within water systems.

IHEEM is staging seminars on medical gas safety in conjunction with the Medical Gas Association. These will be held on the 14 September in London, on 20 September in Newcastle, and 8 October in Birmingham.

The latest Help-Point telephones from Gai-Tronics are hands-free autodialler units, with vandal resistant DDA friendly features. These telephones are designed for general public use, including users with impaired sight, hearing, speech or physical disabilities, providing a centralised access point for help or information. They can be located in general public areas and service provider premises such as hospitals. They are also ideally suited as a telephone entry panel for locked, gated or otherwise inaccessible premises, so helping to ensure compliance with the latest DDA legislation. This can include public buildings.

Toprail Systems has supplied its popular Toprail wall furnishing system for use in new operating theatres at the Alder Hey Children’s Hospital (AHCH), Liverpool. The supporting rail itself was installed into several buildings, which were built off-site and supplied by PKL Healthcare. Once the pre-manufactured buildings had arrived on site, hospital staff were quickly able to install the various elements of the Toprail system – cupboards, shelves, worktops and storage bins.

Portakabin subsidiary Yorkon has launched a new DVD to illustrate how off-site construction can be used in the healthcare sector. The product is designed to assist professionals in health authorities and Trusts, who are considering off-site construction for new hospital buildings, treatment centres and extensions. It looks in-depth at one challenging project, from the factory to site and with interviews with senior nursing and estates staff following handover.

Proven reliability and efficiency, ultra low emissions, low noise and high quality digital burner controls are the reasons Dunphy Burners have again been selected by the Surrey & Sussex NHS Trust for use at the East Surrey Hospital. 25 years after the company first installed burners at the hospital, it has again beaten off competition to supply new burners for two of the steam boilers.

Luxo has added to its extensive medical lighting product range with the introduction of Patientlite – a wall mounted bed head luminaire. Designed by award winning designer Aleksander Borgenhov, its slim modern design virtually eliminates dust traps and makes cleaning effortless.

Leicestershire-based Hill-Rom has agreed a contract with University Hospitals of Leicester (UHL) NHS Trust to fully equip its hospitals with new AvantGuard hospital beds, specialist mattresses and furniture, over a phased five year period with a comprehensive contract for services over the next 15 years.

With an innovative combination of two optical systems and a unique operating philosophy, Draeger Medical has expanded its portfolio in perioperative care with the new Stella OR light. At this year’s annual meeting of the European Society of Anaesthesiology (ESA) in Vienna in May, the company unveiled its latest solution to increase efficiency in the OR and improve working conditions. The company designed the Stella OR light in only two years and received two new patents related to both different lighting systems and their control.

The NHS Trust Chesterfield and North Derbyshire Royal Hospital has recently undertaken a major overhaul of the main hospital entrance and car park. This included a glazed entrance canopy, bus shelters and a covered walkway, all designed, manufactured and installed by the Architectural Metalwork Division of Andy Thornton from Elland, West Yorkshire.

Agfa’s Impax PACS system is now up and running within the University College London Hospitals (UCLH) Trust’s new £225 million building on London’s Euston Road. After a speedy installation, Impax 4.5 has received an enthusiastic welcome from clinicians and radiologists alike.

Architect-led building design firm, Building Design Partnership (BDP) has made a number of new appointments as part of its strategy to re-enter the healthcare sector.

Preventive health organisation Preventicum has pioneered a new approach to preventive medicine, based on an integrated strategy for early diagnosis, by combining individualised care with the most advanced examination methods available. The company recently extended its organisation into the UK with the launch of its first clinic in West London, and the centrepiece of its service is a Philips’ Achieva 1.5T MRI scanner for fast scanning, expanded applications and enhanced workflow.

iSOFT, supplier of application systems for healthcare organisations and economies around the world, has announced the go-live of its i.Pharmacy solution at Bradford Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust, representing the first implementation in the UK. The rollout is a strategic move in the direction of Lorenzo, iSOFT’s core product offering, and introduces the software developer’s internationally proven pharmacy application to the UK.

Southend Hospital NHS Trust, one of the UK’s major hospital trusts with 3,900 staff and an annual income of over £160 million, has invested £28,000 in an important move to ensure that its financial accounting systems relating to capital expenditure fully comply with the requirements of the Capital Accounting Manual and provide valuable data for the new NHS Payment by Results system.

A nationwide research programme has revealed a widespread ambulance infection threat to staff and patients. The research trials involved emergency vehicles from half of the Ambulance Trusts in the UK, who worked in collaboration with ambulance equipment supplier Ferno UK and industrial and healthcare specialist Steris.

BUPA Hospitals has appointed Jean- Jacques De Gorter, as its new director of clinical services.

The Telecare Policy Collaborative and the Department of Health are providing practical advice and guidance for local authorities on how to commission telecare services using the Preventative Technologies Grant. This announcement will signal the implementation of the £80 million grant that will be invested over a period of two years from April 2006.

BT has awarded a nine-year contract to enhance data security and privacy for the new NHS Care Records Service to Sapior. The pseudonymisation solution developed by Sapior will be used to deidentify sensitive patient information for use in secondary medical purposes rather than direct patient care.

The Department of Health and the Health Protection Agency have published the results of the first ever mandatory surveillance schemes for Clostridium difficile associated diarrhoea and glycopeptide resistant enterococci (GRE) bacteraemias. Chief nursing officer Christine Beasley said: “We added Clostridium difficile and glycopeptide resistant enterococci to the mandatory surveillance system to help the NHS establish the scale of the problem, and provide information to help improve infection control.