Achievements celebrated at gala dinner in historic setting

The presentation of seven awards recognising achievement in areas ranging from sustainability to capital projects, a drinks reception accompanied by a rousing Welsh male voice choir, a sumptuous dinner, and a standout performance from opera singer, BBC Wales presenter, and star of the Go.Compare insurance comparison website advertisements, Wynne Evans, were the highlights of a gala awards evening held at Cardiff’s historic Coal Exchange Hotel in Cardiff Bay during IHEEM’s May 2023 Wales Regional Conference

The two-day conference, and an accompanying exhibition, were held at Cardiff City Stadium from 11-12 May, with the conference including hard-hitting, topical, and very interesting presentations from – among others – Judith Paget CBE, Director General of Health and Social Services and CEO, NHS Wales, Nicola Prygodzicz, CEO at the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, Stuart Douglas, Director, NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership – Specialist Estates Services, Anthony Pitcher, Senior Fire Safety Advisor, NWSSP SES, Scott Hislop, HSIB Principal National Investigator, and John Prendergast, Senior Decontamination Engineer, NWSSP SES, and IHEEM Welsh Branch Chair. 

Topics covered were wide-ranging – and encompassed subjects including key fire safety considerations when using natural, ‘sustainable’ building materials, the challenges of providing healthcare both to more prosperous, and less economically advantaged, parts of Wales, rationalisation and reorganisation of services and facilities, apprenticeship opportunities in the sector – with three young apprentices presenting on their own experiences, and a focus on major recent healthcare construction projects, such as the new Grange University Hospital in Llanfrechfa near Cwmbran, and a major refurbishment programme at the Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil. Insert IHEEM CEO, Pete Sellars, and Past-President, Paul Fenton, also presented on the need to ‘develop a common language’ for healthcare planning -- a subject on which they have also spoken at overseas events. Reports on a number of the presentations will appear in subsequent issues of HEJ.