RECENT NEWS

A competition to win what the organisers say is the world’s second biggest cash economics prize is now formally open, seeking planning and design ideas that will ‘radically improve’ hospital care in the UK and around the world.

Althea UK and Ireland has launched an ‘Endoscopy Transformation Service’ aimed at NHS and private hospitals ‘striving to meet the demands on their endoscopy services related to increasing demand and the latest regulatory requirements’.

An e-learning programme for healthcare estates and facilities staff, reportedly one of the UK’s first of its kind for the healthcare sector, and developed by clinical waste management company, Stericycle, has been launched after a successful trial.

Effective ways to combat retrograde contamination in point-of-use filters will be the subject of the first webinar of 2021 to be held in association with Health Estate Journal, presented by three water hygiene specialists from Aqua free Solution.

Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust has appointed BAM Construction to create a new MRI suite, 24-bed Haematology Oncology Ward, and associated facilities, at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Treliske, Truro.

Sodexo UK & Ireland has publicly stated its commitment to a series of pledges forming its ‘ethical manifesto for leading the way to improve quality of life for society and our planet’.

Eight prominent building engineering services organisations have come together to launch a new ‘building services alliance’, Actuate UK, that will represent a sector comprising some 60,000 businesses, employing 350,000 skilled professionals.

lllness among clinical waste collection operatives not yet vaccinated could see the collection and disposal of waste arising from the UK-wide COVID-19 vaccination programme face significant challenges, potentially slowing the vaccine roll-out.

Cabot Square Capital has acquired a majority shareholding in Premier Modular, one of the UK’s leading offsite construction specialists, for an undisclosed sum.

Specialist in point-of-use water filters and ‘safer showering solutions’, T-safe, has become the first point-of-use water filtration provider to have achieved certified member status of the Legionella Control Association.

The Government has given final approval for the funding of a new surgical centre at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton, Somerset.

Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, part of the Northern Care Alliance NHS Group, has appointed BAM Construction to build a new hospital on the Salford Royal site, to support its role as the major trauma centre for Greater Manchester.

Interserve Construction has been awarded a £5m contract by Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust to carry out extension works at Wythenshawe Hospital.

Accessing the latest thinking on and evidence of what works to encourage youngsters from diverse backgrounds to consider an engineering career ‘will be much easier’ with the launch of the new 'Tomorrow’s Engineers website by EngineeringUK, it says.

The latest ERIC data on the cost of providing, maintaining, and servicing the NHS estate across England for 2019/2020 from 224 NHS Trusts indicates that the total cost of running the estate was £9.7 bn -- 2.55 per cent up on 2018/2019.

Static Systems Group, the Staffordshire-based designer and manufacturer of nurse call systems, custodial and staff attack alarm systems, bedhead and mobile trunking, wearable communication devices, and fire alarms, has been acquired by Halma.

Utilising Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), MTX has delivered an impressive three-storey ward block to Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

LSI Architects has designed a training facility for infection prevention and control specialist, GAMA Healthcare, that simulates a live hospital environment, so it can offer ‘bespoke’ training for NHS nurses and other healthcare IPC professionals.

Natalie Forrest, until recently CEO of Chase Farm Hospital – where she successfully led operational and clinical teams to design a ‘ground-breaking new hospital’– has been appointed to lead the Government's plans to build 48 new hospitals by 2030.

A new £2.5 million modular theatre and recovery area at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary, manufactured offsite by ModuleCo, delivered in sections, and craned into place, is equipped with safe, resilient critical care power from Bender UK.