Together with Welsh Health Estates, the Welsh IHEEM branch recently held its second conference at the Cardiff Hilton, Cardiff, and the event was judged by participants to be highly valuable.
Over 180 delegates had registered to attend over the two days and 13 companies took part in an exhibition. Speakers included Professor Roger S. Ulrich, professor of architecture at Texas A&M University; Susan Williams, joint chief executive of the National Patient Safety Agency; Phil Nedin, director of Arup and now also IHEEM’s president; and Malcolm Thomas, independent consulting engineer.
The conference dinner proved to be an excellent opportunity to continue networking and building working relationships. It was also a significant occasion for Peter Jackson who has been awarded Honorary Fellow of IHEEM for his contribution and commitment to the Institute and healthcare.
He was presented a certificate by Richard Nugent, the then Institute president. Peter Jackson said he was delighted to accept the title and thanked the Institute for its valuable support. The Welsh Conference provided delegates with much to consider and was far from being “just a talking shop”. One Trust represented at the event has since re-evaluated the number of single bed rooms within its hospitals and is making plans to move towards having 100% of inpatient accommodation as single bed rooms.
The conference panel, which included members of IHEEM and executives from Welsh Health Estates are delighted with the feedback from all involved in the event.
It is planned to have this regional conference every three years.
All conference presentations can be found on the Welsh Health Estates website www.wales.nhs.uk/whe
