RECENT NEWS

A leading lift and escalator expert, Eur Ing Dave Cooper, managing director of UK-based independent lift, escalator, and vertical transport consultant, LECS (UK), will give a free presentation focusing on ‘the lift and escalator for 2019’ in Central London on 4 April, starting at 12.30pm.

Control of UK-headquartered international support services, construction, and equipment services company, Interserve, which provides a range of construction and facilities management services to the healthcare sector, has moved to a new company after administrators were appointed.

Specialist contractor, Medical Air Technology (MAT), has upgraded Theatre 2 at Fairfield Independent Hospital in St Helens, Merseyside, one of the few remaining independent charitable hospitals in the country, to ultraclean with the addition of one of its ECO-flow ultraclean ventilation (UCV) system.

MAT was appointed after the hospital undertook a formal tender process and the board approved its business case, which the company says ‘demonstrated a clear understanding of the requirements and project drivers, supported by straightforward, concise project proposals that gave cost certainty and evidence of flexibility of installation to meet surgical demands’. In addition to the theatre refit, MAT carried out hydrogen peroxide disinfection of both theatre suites and the surrounding department. The installation was completed in just 18 working days over the Christmas and New Year period to ensure a prompt handover.

Cowan Architects has announced that it has incorporated Alexander Sedgley Architects of Greenwich into its East Grinstead and London Bridge practice, with immediate effect.

A new report from independent charity, The Health Foundation, concludes that ‘a short-termist approach’ has resulted in ‘years of declining and inadequate capital spending for the NHS in England, risking patient care and staff productivity’.

The Government has published both a ‘20-year Vision’ and ‘5-year National Action Plan’ for how the UK will contribute to containing and controlling antimicrobial resistance (AMR) by 2040.

Following ‘a rigorous evaluation’, E-CO says the Infection Prevention Society (IPS) panel has ‘officially endorsed’ its Ultra Violet Germicidal Irradiation (UVGI) technology.

The Engineering Council has worked with BSI to develop an internationally applicable Publicly Available Specification (PAS 525) for assessing the competence and commitment of engineering professionals.

Built environment and estates consultancy, Essentia Trading Ltd (ETL), has overseen and managed a complex refurbishment project to create a specialist unit both for young people requiring long-term ventilation, and those receiving neuro rehabilitation care, for the Evelina London Children’s Hospital, operated by the Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

ENGIE has secured 22-year, £1.3 bn facilities management contract at Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth, with the scope including ‘total FM’, project works, and lifecycle management.

Over a million people will spend public funds on their own behalf through a personal budget, says a new report, Proceed with caution: What makes personal budgets work?’, from public services ‘think tank’, Reform.

In a £15 m contract – the Group’s largest healthcare project to date – offsite construction specialist, The McAvoy Group, has craned the final modules into position for a new wing at Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital in Cramlington.

Fairfield Independent Hospital in St Helens, Merseyside, is one of the very few remaining independent charitable hospitals in the country, and has provided a clean, safe and welcoming environment for healthcare and treatment for over 45 years.

Construction work on the new Royal Papworth Hospital on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus is now complete.

The Skanska team has delivered the new hospital, designed by lead architects, HOK, which will include five operating theatres, five catheter laboratories (for non-surgical procedures) and two hybrid theatres. The 310-bedded hospital will incorporate a 46-bed critical care unit, and most patients will have single, en-suite rooms.

Only half of GP practice buildings in England are fit for purpose, with surgeries too small to meet the demands of growing populations, a major survey on practice premises from the British Medical Association (BMA) has found.

In the light of the survey’s findings, the BMA has urged urging the Government to use next month’s spending review to invest in GP premises. It says health bosses must also ‘remove bureaucratic barriers that can often prevent practices carrying out the improvements that they need’.

Construction contractor, Stepnell, and specialist care sector developer, Brackley Investments, have celebrated the start of construction on a new NHS medical centre to replace Langwith Medical Centre, a primary care base in Derbyshire run by Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust.

Brackley has appointed Nottingham-based Stepnell to the £1.1 million construction contract to deliver the facility, which will be located within sight of the current ‘outdated’ practice premises, on Langwith’s Main Street.

The Trustee Board of the Royal Academy of Engineering has nominated Professor Sir Jim McDonald FREng, FRSE, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Strathclyde, as its Presidential candidate for election by Fellows at the September 2019 AGM.

The Gastroenterology Department at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) has moved some of its services to the Quadram Institute (pictured), a multi-million pound facility on Norwich Research Park, which will now be home to a range of endoscopy and bowel cancer screening services.

A Foundation Trust is addressing winter pressures with the addition of a mobile theatre unit, which it says will help it increase its operational capacity by an estimated 120 procedures a month.

The Teal Task Force service – which supports medical environments with ‘high quality’ hot water hand washing sinks, delivering units to site to meet demand as a result of unplanned or planned water supply interruptions – says that while the winter season has always generated high demand for the hire service, it has seen ‘a significant increase’ over the last three months