RECENT NEWS

Oxford Drug Design Limited (ODD), a biotechnology company with a proprietary computational and machine learning platform, says its recent securing of additional growth capital will enable it to build further on its research into the development of drugs that will address the growing threat posed by anti-microbial resistance.

Polyflor, one of the UK’s leading vinyl flooring manufacturers, has been appointed as a recommended supplier to the ProCure22 (P22) Construction Procurement Framework.

Administered by the Department of Health & Social Care, the P22 framework was created ‘to provide the NHS with the tools to deliver improved estate performance while lowering construction and maintenance costs’.

BAM Construction has been appointed by hub west Scotland to build Scotland’s biggest health centre to date in Parkhead, Glasgow.

North East Health Centre, located on the city’s Salamanca Street, will be delivered on behalf of NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde and Glasgow Health & Social Care Partnership, and will accommodate 900 staff, bringing together a number of community health services currently located at nine different sites.

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has safeguarded the reliability of its critical IT systems with ‘energy-efficient cooling technology’ from Stulz UK.

With King’s College London Hospital among London’s largest and busiest teaching hospitals, the Trust must ensure that the temperature of its data centres is optimised.

‘One of the UK’s best-known hospital furniture and fit-out brands’, Fife-based Havelock, has been acquired out of administration by contract furniture specialist, Deanestor for an undisclosed sum.

In its fifteenth healthcare project for Skanska to date, Deanestor, a leading UK contract furniture manufacturer for the healthcare sector, has completed a £1.1m contract for the supply and installation of furniture and fittings for over 1,600 rooms for the new Royal Papworth Hospital – a specialist heart and lung hospital.

Consultant ophthalmologist and director of Digital Innovation at Moorfields Eye Hospital, Peter Thomas, and Iain Livingstone, consultant ophthalmologist and acute Tele-ophthalmology system lead from NHS Forth Valley in Scotland, have delivered what they say is the world’s first tele-examination of an eye in 4K resolution using 5G broadband, streamed live to a conference in Edinburgh.

Four brand new cancer wards are being created for Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust – which has chosen a contractor – BAM Construction – that first worked at Guy’s Hospital 70 years ago in 1949.

Following a £300,000 investment in the latest surface mount component placement technology, IP nurse call, and fire and custodial alarm system manufacturer, Static Systems Group, says it has – for the first time – placed one million components in less than a month, significantly increasing previous manufacturing capabilities.

The company’s existing machine, which itself provided ‘leading-edge technology’ when it was purchased 10 years ago, had reached the limit for the size of components it could place.

Delabie, the water control and sanitaryware specialist, has opened a new showroom at its UK headquarters in Wallingford where it can showcase its range of taps, sinks, shower, other sanitaryware and accessories to its customers.

NG Bailey has completed work on a new £14m energy centre at the University Hospital of North Tees in Stockton, marking what it dubs ‘a fundamental milestone in the site’s regeneration.

IHEEM (The Institute of Healthcare Engineering and Estate Management) is reminding those set to visit, or considering attending, its flagship annual conference and exhibition, Healthcare Estates 2019, in Manchester this year (the event takes place from 8-9 October at Manchester Central), that as part of its commitment to support apprentices in healthcare, attendance is free for any healthcare estates apprentice. This includes those undertaking adult apprenticeships.

Managed service and maintenance provider, Althea, has completed a £4 m refurbishment and replacement project at Whittington Health NHS Trust’s Imaging Department on the third floor of the Whittington Hospital in north London.

BSI has launched a certification scheme and supporting training courses designed to help organisations develop, implement, and maintain, effective facilities management across all operations.

Following the success of an initial contract, a medical technology specialist is set to continue to help an NHS hospital Trust deliver orthopaedic procedures during a refurbishment project.

A new survey released today by NHS Providers has found that 82% (161) of NHS Trust leaders think the current climate of restricted capital funding ‘poses a medium or high risk to patient safety’, and could undermine plans to transform the NHS.

Scientists at the University of Birmingham say they have created an antimicrobial coating for steel surfaces which has proven in a trial to rapidly kill bacteria that cause some of the most common hospital-acquired infections.

Developed by University of Birmingham researchers, patented by University of Birmingham Enterprise, and to be commercialised by a new company, NitroPep, the coating – also called NitroPep – has been heralded as a new tool in the fight against the spread of infection.

The Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust has – as it puts it – ‘smashed targets’, saving £242,681 in 19 months, and triumphing in the Reuse category of the NHS Sustainability Awards, with the help of the Warp It system that helps staff to reuse and recycle.

Unwanted items have been donated to other Trust departments, and assets worth almost £5,000 claimed from other organisations on the network. These include ‘high-end’ sofas ‘smart enough to include in a new-build project’.

Contrac Lighting, one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of lighting solutions for the industrial, retail, public, and commercial sectors, has announced the appointment of Richard Hunt as managing director.

Medical Air Technology (MAT) proved to be ‘the ideal construction partner’ for the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) when it needed a new purpose-built suite of microbiology containment laboratories for Dr Serge Mostowy, Professor of Cellular Microbiology, to continue his exciting and innovative research into controlling infection,

“MAT is large enough to cope with any issues, but small enough to care, and this was evident throughout,” said John Starmer, Estates director at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. “It was a pleasure to work with MAT and the team that was assembled for the project, and we hope to have the opportunity to work together again.”