IFHE Past-President, Yasushi Nagasawa, and a party of 21 of his healthcare engineering/architecture and planning students from Tokyo University, enjoyed a day touring some of central London’s most famous healthcare buildings, and sightseeing, in December.
During a day of activities arranged by the IFHE’s European Council representative, David Whiteley, the chief engineer and programme lead at the Department of Health’s NHS Estates & Facilities Division.
“We met at St Thomas’ Hospital, iconic because of its location across the River Thames from the Houses of Parliament,” David Whiteley explained. “After brief introductions, and a description of the history of the Hospital and the range of services it currently provides, we took the party to the Florence Nightingale Museum, housed on the campus, in line with a request from Yasushi, who had told me that he had been lecturing the students on the contribution Florence Nightingale made to the design of hospitals worldwide, and specifically about the progress she made on infection control.
“We then toured the site, including the critical engineering sections of HV emergency generators, combined heat and power plant, boiler house, HV/LV sub-stations, and switchgear rooms. Colleagues from the Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust explained the importance of this engineering plant and equipment, including its role in enabling the Hospital’s Accident & Emergency facility to continue to provide services throughout times of emergency, untoward incidents, and electricity blackouts etc.”
The party’s next stop was the awardwinning Evelina Children’s Hospital, on the same campus, including the atrium, mezzanine floor, school etc. David Whiteley said: “This proved a great hit with both the students, and many of the children who were ambulant and receiving treatment. We took a number of group photos outside the external playground area, On the back of this IHEEM-supported visit, colleagues from within the Trust had organised luncheon vouchers for the whole party in the staff dining facility, which went down very well with the student group, so all credit to them, and to Jonathan Forsyth in particular, for all his hard work in organising this.
“I then took the visitors via the Underground to Guy’s Hospital near London Bridge, and The Shard building. Obviously those from an architectural background were very interested in The Shard and the Guy’s campus, part of which was designed by people involved with the London Olympics. Guy’s also has a tower block, so we were escorted to the 29th floor, where we were treated to a panoramic view of the River Thames and London, and we could see the St Thomas’ site and iconic buildings including St Paul’s Cathedral, the London Eye, and Wembley Stadium etc.
“After touring similar areas and facilities to those we had seen at the St Thomas’ site at Guy’s, I escorted the party back to St Pancras station. So, a highly successful and informative day, which Yasushi Nagasawa advised would never have been possible without the support and links establishes between IHEEM and the HEAJ (the Hospital Engineering Association of Japan; see HEJ – November 2013) under the IFHE platform.”
