RECENT NEWS

The Rutherford Health Group, which operates a network of cancer and diagnostic centres in the UK, has announced today (6 June) that an application is to be made to place the Group into liquidation.

The UK’s largest single-site maternity unit is being planned in Leeds as part of the development of two new hospitals on the Leeds General Infirmary site – providing what Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust describes as ‘a revolution in patient-centred care’.

NG Bailey has been appointed to deliver a £5.3m installation of new mechanical and electrical (M&E) services for a new Urgent and Emergency Care Department for Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

A report published on 25 May by the UK’s Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) concludes that the impact of ineffective decontamination of surgical instruments ‘can be far-reaching’, with the potential consequences ranging from the risk of severe infection, to ‘the frustration of cancelled operations due to dirty equipment’.

Leading finance and accounting, digital, procurement, and workforce services provider, NHS Shared Business Services (NHS SBS), has launched its ‘second-generation’ Hard Facilities Management framework agreement.

The construction of a new theatre building at Poole Hospital by Sir Robert McAlpine has reached a significant milestone, with a traditional ‘topping out’ ceremony.

Illustrator and reportage artist, Emily Thomas, has been working with CW+, the official charity of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, as part of her residency at West Middlesex University Hospital, producing a collection of illustrations which capture and celebrate the workforce there.

The Mayor of Greater Manchester and former Health Secretary, the Rt Hon Andy Burnham, will appear before a cross-party inquiry into the future of healthcare infrastructure next month to provide his expert insight.

The go-ahead has been granted for a new 70,000 m2 hospital, to be built on the existing Overdale Hospital site in St Helier, in what is expected to be one of the largest public projects ever undertaken in Jersey.

A turf-cutting ceremony has taken place to mark the official start of a £47 m scheme to build a new Urgent and Emergency Care Centre at Scarborough Hospital – the largest capital scheme ever undertaken by the Trust.

Professor Catherine Noakes, one of the leading experts in ventilation and the transmission of airborne infection, has been awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE).

Provider of compliance, technical, and safety training, Develop Training, is embarking on a project that it says will help change the lives of communities in remote and impoverished areas of Nakuru in Kenya.

Former Chair of the Royal College of Surgeons, Dame Clare Marx, picked up the first spade-full of earth and dug in on 11 May as work began on a new multi-million-pound planned orthopaedic care centre named after her at Colchester Hospital.

With high demand for services, and an ever-growing focus on the environmental impact and carbon reduction of new-build schemes, NHS Trusts are increasingly turning to Catfoss and the use of Modern Methods of Construction in the delivery of their estates strategies.

Inspiring and supporting the next generation of engineers ‘will help society solve the big technical and scientific challenges of today and tomorrow’, said Kevin Mitchell CEng, FCIBSE, the incoming President of the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers, in his Presidential Address on 5 May.

NHS England and NHS Improvement and Health Education England (HEE) have launched an NHS ‘Estates and Facilities Apprenticeship Challenge’ to support the greater use of apprenticeships in estates and facilities.

Specialist healthcare infrastructure consultancy, Archus, has established a new Dublin office, to expand its provision of strategic and infrastructure advice to health and social care clients in the region.

A cross-party group of MPs and peers is seeking views on how the NHS estate and infrastructure can best meet patient needs.

Work has begun on a new pathology laboratory at St James’s Hospital in Leeds to serve patients in the city, West Yorkshire, and Harrogate.

With ambitious build plans for the UK’s New Hospital Programme set in motion, the latest report from polymer product specialist, REHAU, found that 98% of the M&E contractors and architects working in healthcare surveyed would be willing to pay extra for products with longer lifespans when constructing healthcare facilities.