One of the four conference streams at last month’s Healthcare Estates 2014 event focused on some of the key engineering challenges and opportunities facing healthcare estates managers and healthcare engineers. Mike Arrowsmith, HEJ’s technical editor, provides an overview of the engineering sessions at this year’s IHEEM conference.
The fact that virtually every conference on healthcare engineering includes at least one session on water services hygiene and safety is perhaps epitomised by the title of the presentation, Water – a War of Five Conflicts (a war that is likely perhaps to continue) by Dr Nick Hill, research and development director at the Water Hygiene Centre.
In his paper, Dr Hill identified the five conflicts: microbiological water quality, infection control, water quality in general, PFI issues, and, not least, scalding. Taking each in turn:
(The publication in 2013 of the Health Technical Memorandum 04-01 – addendum, Pseudomonas aeruginosa – advice for augmented care units, includes detailed methods for water sampling and microbiological examination of samples. There is a requirement to ensure that samples reach the test laboratory within 24 hours, and thereafter the incubation for samples requires a further 24 hours or so – in fact, achieving a result may take longer).
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