RECENT NEWS

Vanguard Healthcare Solutions, which has recently launched a range of mobile endoscope decontamination units, has installed one of the first at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital.

Architects, ADP, and contractor, Logan Construction, have completed a major remodelling of London’s St Thomas’ Hospital – to create a new emergency care pathway in a dedicated emergency floor.

The London Clinic, a private hospital and charity in Harley Street, will be the UK’s first hospital to offer patients the latest diagnostic imaging with the new Siemens Magnetom Vida 3T MRI scanner beginning this September

Patients with cancer, orthopaedic, urology, and neurology conditions will benefit from high quality diagnostic scans with the latest 3T MRI technology.

Armitage Shanks, the expert washroom and bathroom solution manufacturer, has secured the national standardised sanitaryware and brassware specification for Spire Healthcare.

Spire was impressed by the company’s new clinical ceramic collection, Contour 21+, and its new line of healthcare fittings, Markwik 21+, with the ‘comprehensive brassware and ceramic basin ranges’ selected based on their ‘specific infection control capabilities’.

Energy efficiency is the most important credential when choosing a heat emitter, according to a recent poll of facilities managers.

In a survey by OnePoll, in association with Jaga Heating Products – a leading UK specialist distributor of ‘energy-saving, low-water content heating products’, almost all (97%) of respondents said efficiency is important, while a quarter said it was the most important factor, alongside low running costs.

Washroom and water efficiency specialist, Cistermiser Keraflo, has joined industry body ‘Made in Britain’, which it says underlines its credentials as ‘the leading UK manufacturer in its sector’.

As a member of the national network, the company can now carry ‘the number one marque’ of British manufacturing on its products and marketing literature.

David Meacock, technical director for Cistermiser Keraflo, said: “In our industry relatively few products are made in the UK, but UK production is something we are committed to.

David Bailey Furniture Systems has been chosen to supply furniture for two substantial hospital furniture refits based in Wales – the £6.5 million upgrade to maternity and neonatal services at the Prince Charles Hospital in Mid Glamorgan, and the £5.8 million ‘state-of-the-art’ refurbishment of the renal unit at Swansea’s Morriston Hospital.

Selected by Interserve Building as its hospital furniture partner for both projects, it was tasked with sourcing fixtures, fittings, and equipment, to the value of over £90,000.

A fully functioning and compliant critical air system is crucial to the successful operation of the complex hospital environment, where downtime can be catastrophic for patients and business.

Onecom, reportedly the UK’s largest independent business telecommunications provider, has signed a UK partnership agreement with Sony Mobile Communications to sell, support, and develop the latter’s 'Internet of Things' (IoT) products and services.

Sony Mobile will work with Onecom as its exclusive UK-headquartered partner for ‘Tracking Solutions’, and also collaborate with it on ‘a range of solutions driven by smart connected devices for use in cross-vertical applications including business, infrastructure, transport and the public sector’.

St George’s Hospital in Tooting, South London, is celebrating a major overhaul of its energy centre that the St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust says will reduce the hospital’s annual energy bill by ‘at least 10 per cent’, i.e. by up to £1m.

Delivered by Centrica Business Solutions, the project is guaranteed to save the hospital over £1m per year with no upfront cost, while reducing its annual carbon emissions by 20 per cent (6,000 tonnes).

Luminaires from Zumtobel Group companies Zumtobel Lighting and Thorn Lighting have made an important contribution to the aesthetics, environment, and sustainability credentials, of the Spire Nottingham Hospital in Tollerton, Nottinghamshire.

The two companies have supplied a range of fittings to illuminate all areas of the 58-bed hospital, including the main entrance, offices, consulting rooms, operating theatres, corridors, bedrooms, and nurse bases.

Infrastructure and healthcare planning consultancy, Essentia Trading, has launched two new frameworks it says are ‘designed to enable and encourage NHS Trusts and other public sector bodies to make savings on their energy bills, as well as drive efficiencies’.

The first, a Battery Storage Framework Agreement, ‘provides a model for public sector bodies wishing to implement battery storage solutions within the perimeter of their electrical network’.

Secure I.T. Environments, a UK designer and builder of modular and containerised data centres, has completed a new 41m² secondary data centre at the Ysbyty Glan Clwyd Hospital, part of the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB), Wales’s largest health organisation.

The hospital is currently undergoing a major redevelopment programme to modernise its existing buildings. As part of the work the Health Board identified the need for a new energy-efficient secondary data centre.

Healthcare innovators from across the West of England assembled in Swindon this month (June) ‘as part of a programme that aims to save the NHS millions by bringing the benefits of cutting-edge healthcare technology to patients faster’.

The four-day Health Innovation Programme for health professionals, hosted by SETsquared and the West of England Academic Health Science Network (AHSN), provided 17 healthcare ventures with an intensive course in taking innovations to market.

Medical Air Technology (MAT) recently completed work at Tees Valley Hospital, a brand new £23m hospital provided by WW Medical Facilities and operated by Ramsay Health Care UK, designed to be a bespoke, patient-centred environment for care and treatment.

The popularity of the lay-up cabinet from Medical Air Technology (MAT) continues to grow, with Spire South Bank Hospital in Worcester, Golden Jubilee National Hospital in Glasgow and Nuffield Health Glasgow Hospital all taking delivery of cabinets in recent months.

Catering sector trade association, ceda, says its latest industry technical document offers guidance to catering equipment suppliers ‘often required to provide fire protection systems, but who regularly encounter problems ensuring that connections are made between the controls of the fire protection system and other systems, such as building management systems, kitchen extract fans, and fuel supplies’.

ceda, which has jointly published the guidance, Interface between fire-fighting systems and other systems in commercial kitchens, with the Fire Industry Association (FIA), says there is ‘concern’ that the suppliers of other systems are ‘reluctant’ to make the connections for several reasons – including ‘fear of setting off the fire protection system’, ‘fear or reluctance to work in another contractor’s control box’, and ‘a lack of understanding of the relevance and importance of inter-connections between systems’.

Renowned artist, Marthe Armitage, was recently commissioned by hospital charity, CW+, to install her intricate ‘signature’ wallpaper designs in the Cardiac Care Unit and older patient wards at West Middlesex University Hospital, ‘to transform the environment for patients and their families’.

Marthe Armitage produces hand-printed wallpapers using the traditional technique of lino block printing, from her studio in Chiswick. A variety of her iconic and distinctive designs have been digitally printed using the latest technology onto vinyl which is a suitable material for the hospital environment. The designs were selected following a consultation process by CW+ with patients and staff.

Breathe Energy has announced a new Energy Performance Contract (EPC) win to deliver energy savings to the East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust estate.

The programme of works under the agreed EPC will be fully financed, with the energy savings then used to repay the loan. Breathe Energy has commenced the initial stage energy audit of the estate, which is due to complete in July.

Forbo Flooring Systems has been appointed as an approved supplier on the Department of Health’s ProCure22 Framework for NHS and social care construction schemes in England – meaning that its floorcovering solutions, ‘from entrance to exit’, are approved for the healthcare environment.

The flooring company said: “The ProCure22 (P22) process is designed to achieve improved value for money and reduce exposure to risk through a simplified procurement procedure.