According to Steve Pardy, a partner with consulting engineers, Zisman Bowyer & Partners, ‘the issue of full compliance is challenging NHS Trusts with finances under pressure and ageing assets’.
He examines compliance for ventilation systems, and asks whether it should indeed always be a requirement to attain full compliance when extending and improving the performance of existing systems.
NHS Trusts have a responsibility for maintaining their estate such that buildings and their assets are in compliance with regulatory standards for healthcare premises. These regulatory standards can be British Standards, or other legislation, and, for healthcare premises, include Health Technical Memoranda. As would be expected, these standards are updated from time to time, and, in the vast majority of cases, are not retrospective. However, it is incumbent on NHS Trusts to achieve a minimum standard. Where compliance is not being achieved, Trusts need to have assessed the resulting risks, and have in place a management plan to address any non-compliances, along with a timescale for action. In the case of major refurbishment and replacement projects, it is anticipated that these works would be in compliance with standards current at the time of the project. This may not always be possible when interfacing with existing systems where capacity is fixed. In such cases divergence from standards should be agreed with the Trust, and appropriate derogations put in place.
Key guidance in HTM
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