RECENT NEWS

As the pace of technological change accelerates, no nation can afford to ease up on their efforts to conduct engineering in a safe and innovative way, according to research commissioned by the Royal Academy of Engineering and Lloyd’s Register Foundation as part of Engineering X – a new international collaboration that ‘brings together some of the world’s leading problem-solvers to address the great challenges of our age’.

IHEEM (the Institute of Healthcare Engineering and Estate Management) is now providing professional and technical feedback to NHS England and NHS Improvement on the re-development of national estates and facilities management standards and guidance.

In embarking upon a trio of major energy-saving projects across its main hospital sites, United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust has been working with sustainability consultant, ETL, on an Energy Performance Contract (EPC)to procure and appoint an energy supplier and ‘negotiate the best possible deal’.

The McAvoy Group, one of the UK and Ireland’s leading offsite manufacturers, has secured ‘multi-million-pound investment’ from London-based Blantyre Capital, which it says will support its continued growth’ in the very dynamic offsite sector’, and finance the Group’s ‘ambitious expansion programme’.

Veolia, working through its specialist energy performance contracting team, is to deliver a 20-year Energy Performance Contract (EPC) that will target annual savings of over £1 million through the implementation of a wide range of carbon-saving improvements at the 500- bedded Rotherham Hospital.

A new report from the Good Governance Institute (GGI) and Legrand Assisted Living and Healthcare advocates ‘immediate action to embrace digital solutions’, building on a programme of research and engagement with senior leaders from the health, care, and housing sectors.

Legrand Assisted Living said: “There is growing recognition that the public sector improvements – including in healthcare – we require cannot be delivered simply by providing services in the same way, or even by becoming more efficient. New systems approaches are needed to achieve improved health and wellbeing outcomes across the UK.”

NHS Property Services (NHSPS) has announced two new energy contracts through Inspired Energy, via which British Gas will provide ‘100 per cent renewable electricity’, and Corona natural gas, to all the organisation’s properties across England by April this year.

Sodexo, a leading global services company, has launched a braille menu for patients at Queen’s Hospital Romford.

The new menu has been introduced in each ward to ensure that patients with visual impairments can read the standard menu. Karen Ford-Sneddon, Sodexo Patient Dining manager at the hospital, said: “We truly care about our patients, and so are always looking for ways to improve how we meet individual patient needs and help ensure a patient’s stay is as comfortable as possible.

BAM Construction has started work on a new £19 m healthcare centre in Clydebank.

Delivered in partnership with hub West Scotland on behalf of NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, Clydebank Health Centre will be located within the Queens Quay development area, forming part of a new Health Quarter.

NG Bailey has completed a £3 m services project at Royal Hallamshire Hospital (RHH) to provide four new operating theatres.

The project’s completion follows a series of healthcare sector successes for the firm, including project wins such as the new eye care centre at Golden Jubilee National Hospital in Clydebank, and the completion of the University Hospital of North Tees’ Energy Centre.

NHS Property Services (NHSPS) has appointed Montagu Evans as the valuation consultant for its £3.6 bn property portfolio on a five-year contract; the firm held the previous valuation contract for NHSPS, which also ran for five years.

In unveiling a new report that the member organisation says ‘sets out scale of the task required to rebuild and equip the NHS to make it fit for the 21st century’, the deputy CEO of NHS Providers argues that ‘it’s time for the biggest building programme in the NHS since the Beatles’.

UK infection control company, GV Health, has delivered 9.5 tonnes of infection control equipment and healthcare disinfectants for use by medical staff in Chinese hospitals.

Schneider Electric, the specialist in ‘digital transformation’ in energy management and automation, has announced that it is to expand its UK manufacturing facilities in Scarborough and Leeds ‘driven by rising demand in renewable and green technologies’.

London South Bank University (LSBU) and the Building Services Research and Information Association (BSRIA) have launched a new joint research and innovation centre.

Research published on 28 November by the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAA) in a new report,'Closing the engineering gender pay gap', indicates that the gender pay gap is smaller in the engineering profession than the UK employee average.

NHS CEO, Sir Simon Stevens (pictured), has announced that the NHS and its staff will ‘step up action to tackle the climate health emergency’ via three key measures – the first a new ‘expert panel’ to “chart a practical route map this year to enable the NHS to get to ‘net zero’”, the second a proposed new NHS Standard Contract calling on hospitals to reduce carbon from buildings and estates, switch to ‘less polluting anaesthetic gases and better asthma inhalers’, and encourage more active travel for staff, and the third a ‘grassroots campaign’ to encourage staff and hospitals ‘to cut their impact on people’s health and the environment’.

An annual survey by EngineeringUK gives ‘cause for optimism’ about young people’s perceptions of an engineering career, with the proportion of 16 to 19-year-olds who would consider such a career up by 8 per cent from 37 per cent in 2016 to 45 per cent in 2019.

A new report published by skills and education ‘think tank’, EDSK, has found that ‘millions of pounds’ of the government’s Apprenticeship Levy are being spent on so-called ‘fake apprenticeship schemes’, which, in reality, are ‘relabelled degrees or training courses for existing staff’.

A National Audit Office (NAO) report published on 17 January reveals that the two PFI hospitals Carillion was building at the time of its collapse – the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, and the Midland Metropolitan Hospital – are currently due for completion over five years, and nearly four years late, respectively.