RECENT NEWS

IDEXX Water says it is committed to protecting public health through its ‘innovative technologies and simple-touse tests’, which it says ‘can identify microbiological contamination in water more quickly and more accurately than traditional methods’.

The Water Management Society (WMS) has introduced a second module to its City & Guilds accredited training course, ‘HTM 04-01 Water Hygiene Training: Managing and Controlling the Risk of Waterborne Pathogens in Water Systems’.

Operating theatres at the new £12 million South Lakes Birth Centre maternity unit at Furness General Hospital, Barrow-in-Furness, are benefiting from critical care power systems and surgical equipment supplied by Bender UK.

Bender Medical IT power systems and uninterruptible power supplies provide protection and resilience within the maternity facility’s electrical infrastructure. The two operating theatres incorporate Bender hygienic touchscreen theatre control panels, clinical pendants, and the company’s new Merivaara Q-Flow LED surgical lights.

A Patient Safety Alert has been issued by NHS Improvement on ‘the risk of death and severe harm from failure to obtain and continue flow from oxygen cylinders’.

MGPS Services says it is ‘pleased to welcome aboard’ Simon Colley, who, as an estates officer previously at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, was Authorised Person for MGPS, HVAC, LV, and Lifts, and Responsible Person for Water.

Utilising ‘years of experience’, and understanding that medical gas training ‘needs to be relevant and effective’, and that time available is limited, HAC Medical Gas Training & Services is working on training packages (face-toface and online) that ‘provide all training in the most time and cost-effective ways’.

Those attending Eastwood Park’s medical gas training are ‘reaping the benefits of the intensely practical nature of the courses delivered at the centre, returning to the work environment and delivering real savings on routine maintenance work’, the training establishment maintains.

The Royal Academy of Engineering has appointed a Policy Director to head up its new Policy Centre - an expansion of its well-established policy function that it says will enhance its ability to provide government with expert advice from the profession on national challenges that involve engineering or have an engineering dimension.

Conti + says its UK launch of the CNX water management system brings ‘a system scaleable to the most extensive healthcare facility’.

Centrica Business Solutions, an energy resilience specialist offering products and services ranging from demand-side response to CHP and battery storage, questions how well prepared healthcare facilities are for energy-related failure, warning that ‘even the briefest power outage can damage equipment and interrupt critical processes’.

The dhf (Door & Hardware Federation) has welcomed recommendations made in the Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety’s Interim Report, published on 18 December, and particularly that those working on the design, construction, inspection, and maintenance of complex and high-risk buildings are suitably qualified.

Work has begun on the United Arab Emirates’ first proton beam therapy cancer treatment centre.

A range of Gradus wall protection and flooring accessories products has been installed within the new five-storey, £28 m Allam Building at the University of Hull’s Health Campus.

Tenovus Cancer Care, the cancer treatment and support organisation whose scientists developed the use of breast cancer drug, Tamoxifen, and prostate cancer medication, Zoladex, and which already operates two mobile support units delivering chemotherapy and lymphoedema across Wales, is to build what is says will be the world’s biggest mobile chemotherapy unit for cancer patients in the Principality.

Vanguard Healthcare Solutions has officially opened a purpose-built, 6,600 m2 transport and logistics facility in Manningtree in Essex as part of an expansion programme.

Managed services and multi-vendor maintenance specialist, Althea, has now completed the installation of three new linear accelerators for the Derby Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust at Royal Derby Hospital.

Work began last month on a new £12 m primary care centre in Barrow in Furness in Cumbria that will bring together primary care and community services on the site of a former school built in 1888 and given Grade 2 listing in 1993.

A ‘snap poll’ of Carillion engineering sub-contractors shows that many companies ‘are facing huge financial losses’ from the collapse of the construction giant, according to new data obtained by the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) and the electrotechnical and engineering services trade body, ECA.

The two associations say Carillion owes around £75 million to around 80 engineering services firms, but claim that ‘the overall losses are likely to be far higher, given there are thousands of businesses operating in the industry’, with the engineering services sector the largest part of the construction industry by value.

BRE and the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) have released ‘a new, improved briefing paper’ that outlines how projects may achieve both a certified BREEAM rating and WELL Certification.

The updated document, ‘Assessing Health and Wellbeing in Buildings - Alignment between BREEAM and the WELL Building Standard’, was developed as part of a commitment to continuous improvement by IWBI and BRE using industry feedback from professionals working to achieve joint certification of BREEAM and the WELL Building Standard (WELL).

The liquidation of construction giant, Carillion, could lead to 'potentially catastrophic losses for thousands of SMEs', say the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) and the electrotechnical and engineering services trade body, ECA.

The two organisations explain: “According to its latest set of accounts, Carillion was holding over £800 m in retentions payments owed to sub-contractors. There is growing alarm that much of this money will be lost, leaving many more firms at risk of financial collapse.”