IHEEM’s Council has adopted six key strategic objectives, supported by the Institute’s CEO, Julian Amey, and the management team, as part of a ‘five-year plan’ designed to take IHEEM to the next stage of its development.
This follows a recent ‘Strategy Day’, at which the Institute’s Trustees met with the head office team to consider a number of papers produced by staff, and to ‘work towards the creation of the plan, looking forward to IHEEM’s 75th anniversary, in 2018’. The key objectives, and some of the principal elements envisaged for each, are to:
• Build membership to 5,000 by 2018, via membership growth both in the UK and overseas. Initiatives planned include establishing a ‘Young Member Group’ and a Mentoring Programme; initiating a ‘Member get Member’ campaign; developing an ‘Eminent Members’ scheme; greater engagement with Branches; launching a ‘Membership Roadshow’; encouraging leavers to re-join IHEEM, greater employer engagement, and use of e-mail newsletters.
• Develop the membership package to be ‘more relevant and desirable’, including considering how to better work with other professional Institutes, and surveying existing and leaving Members.
• ‘Strive to be the specialist educational provider of CPD in the healthcare engineering sector’, via an events programme covering ‘hot topics’ and relevant subjects; effective event marketing and expanding the variety of events and formats offered; ‘building relationships’ with Company Affiliates and employers; on-site training programmes; developing collaborative events with other Institutes; promoting IHEEM CPD; gaining sponsorship to support Institute goals; reviewing and developing the annual conference and exhibition, and extending the event programme with branches.
• Reduce costs ‘by encouraging costeffective meetings’, including via greater use of telephone and videoconferencing – thus reducing ‘unnecessary’ face-to-face meetings; cutting Committee costs; regular reviews of overhead and office costs; seeking ‘safe investment opportunities’ to increase interest revenue and maximise returns on surplus funds, and building relationships with other organisations and business partners.
• Become ‘the arbiter of guidance for health technical guidance’ with the Department of Health, via endorsement, including holding of meetings with the DH to discuss the future of HTMs and HBMs.
• Be ‘the definitive voice’ within the healthcare engineering and estate management sector, through raising the Institute’s profile; ‘being proactive and responsive’, and ‘the source for media experts’ – with a bank of appropriate speakers able to comment on health policy and news to encourage interaction with national Government; increasing involvement in consultation with the Department of Health, BSI etc, to ensure IHEEM is ‘at the top table’; encouraging dialogue with the Health and Safety Executive and the Care Quality Commission, and ‘engaging more with academia’.
IHEEM CEO, Julian Amey, said: “The draft plan will now be refined over coming months, with a view to its adoption at October’s Healthcare Estates conference and exhibition.”
