RECENT NEWS

With it having become increasingly important to control the spread of coronavirus by monitoring key symptoms, such as a fever, Cardiff-based multi-brand security equipment distributor, Oprema, and partner, video surveillance specialist, Dahua Technology, have donated a thermal imaging solution which can reportedly automatically detect a person’s temperature in under a second, without the need for personal contact, to reduce the risk to the key workers and patients undertaking manual monitoring at the Welsh capital’s University Hospital Llandough.

Resource management company, Veolia, has launched a COVID-19 disinfection service designed to ensure compliant treatment for businesses that need disinfection after lockdown and prior to reopening.

Specialist energy teams from Veolia have now extended the services they provide to United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT), with a wide-ranging programme of measures to be implemented under an Energy Performance Contract (EPC) expected to cut the Trust’s annual carbon emissions by 7,712 tonnes, provide £1.4 million in annual financial efficiencies, and ‘build long-term energy resilience, and make lasting enhancements to the patient care environment’.

MTX has begun onsite works to provide The Hillingdon Hospital with a 28-bed decant ward.

Industrial steam specialist, Spirax Sarco, has been machining a critical component part for use in the UCLVentura breathing aid, a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) device being used to provide potentially lifesaving oxygen to COVID-19 patients.

Static Systems Group (SSG) has successfully completed a ‘live’ upgrade of the fire alarm system at Solihull Hospital.

Mypower has designed and installed a 306-panel solar photovoltaic (PV) system for the roof of St. Catherine’s Health Centre in the Wirral, expected to afford operator, Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, a saving and income of £8,400 in the first year.

The 4 Medical IT Alliance has appointed Fulbourn Medical as the official supplier of its integrated operating room and video imaging, workflow management, and surgical display systems to hospitals in the UK and Ireland.

Medstor has recently installed specialist storage and materials management solutions as part of a major upgrade of the cytopathology department at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital’s (NNUH) Cotman Centre, preparing it for its new role as one of eight laboratories across England responsible for implementing the amended NHS Cervical Screening Programme.

Hospitals and clinics across London’s Harley Street Medical Area (HSMA) are collaborating with the NHS to meet the continued need for specialist treatments being put under pressure while the fight against the COVID-19 virus continues.

Software development ‘market-leader’, GlobalView Systems, has jointly developed with IHEEM (the Institute of Healthcare Engineering and Estate Management) what the company dubs ‘innovative new software’ to help hospitals anywhere in the world manage the increasing need for oxygen as they battle with the COVID-19 emergency.

'Britain’s leading engineering brains' at Enginuity, (formerly Semta), an employer-led manufacturing and engineering skills body, with the support of the The Prince’s Trust, are 'harnessing the power of gaming' to identify talent via a non-academic route that the proponents say can ‘power the nation’s economic recovery when the lockdown is lifted’.

Supplier of turnkey operating theatre and power solutions, Bender UK, has appointed Ricky Barker – who been with the company for over 15 years – as the new head of its Hospital Business Unit.

During his time with the Cumbria-headquartered firm, he has worked in a variety of healthcare engineering roles, including in commissioning and project management, and latterly as Technical Service leader. Bender UK says he has supported the steady growth and expansion of its Hospital Business Unit, for instance leading the Service Department, which the company says ‘has consistently gained more contracted work by offering complete service solutions for NHS and private medical customers, incorporating the maintenance of complementary third-party systems such as uninterruptible power supplies’.

Mitie, the FM and professional services company, is providing cleaning, catering, portering, security, and waste management services for NHS Wales’ new Ysbyty Calon y Ddraig (Dragon’s Heart Hospital) in Cardiff.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the resulting increase in demand for its nurse call systems, healthcare communications and bedhead services specialist, Static Systems Group (SSG), has boosted production capacity at its manufacturing base near Wolverhampton, and invested in the rapid development of an off-the-shelf ‘wired’ nurse call solution.

ESGLI, the ESCMID (European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases) Study Group for Legionella Infections, has recently published guidance designed to help personnel such as healthcare engineers and healthcare estates managers keep water systems safe during the current COVID-19 outbreak.

Interserve Group, the international support services, construction, and equipment group, has been commissioned by the Government to provide facilities management services to the NHS Nightingale North West Hospital in Manchester that will be treating COVID-19 patients when it opens shortly.

NG Bailey is continuing to play its part supporting national efforts to combat the COVID-19 epidemic as part of the team that has transformed Harrogate Convention Centre into an NHS Nightingale hospital to serve Yorkshire and Humberside.

Civil and structural engineering firm, Sutcliffe, has announced an 11% increase in profit for its last financial year (September 2018-September 2019), compared with the same period in the previous 12 months, which it says puts it ‘in a very strong position as the world deals with the current COVID-19 crisis’.

The professional team delivering the emergency Nightingale Hospital at Harrogate Hospital has been announced.

The new ‘circa-500-bed’ facility, part of the Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, will see the Harrogate Convention Centre in North Yorkshire converted to accommodate level three critical care beds in the Centre’s halls for the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.