Prevailing approaches are broken

Planning and managing electrical compliance in line with BS7671 is challenging due to the lack of correct information, the volume of data, and the need to manually handle this electrical information. In this article, Michael Joubert, BSc Mech. Eng. (Industrial), MBA, operations director at EDIS, explains why electrical compliance management 'no longer needs to be a laborious and time-consuming task', and how estates managers in large hospitals are successfully addressing it.

Challenges set by the ErP Directive addressed

In January this year, new Eco-design requirements for ventilation products came into force in the form of the Ecodesign Directive 2009/125/EC for energy-related products (ErP). The tighter requirements signal the growing need for products that are even more energy-efficient, which will help EU countries reach their carbon reduction commitments. Here David White, UK service sales manager at supplier of air technology solutions, Fläkt Woods, considers what the new standards will mean for HVAC systems in hospitals and healthcare facilities.

HTM advocates 'holistic approach'

Dr Nick Hill, a fellow of IHEEM, and chair of the Institute's Water Technical Platform, whose career encompasses over 25 years' experience working on all aspects of water, considers some of the key guidance contained in the new Health Technical Memorandum, HTM 04-01, Safe Water in Healthcare Premises (2016), which was published last month.

Improving efficiency, securing savings

The NHS in England could save £1 bn annually if all NHS acute Trustsachieved the median level of estates and facilities running costs, the second (and 'final') report by Lord Carter and his team into the 'productivity and efficiency' of acute NHS Trusts across England, published on 5 February,suggests. As HEJ, editor, Jonathan Baillie reports, Lord Carter's team'songoing recent discussions with senior personnel working in a range of disciplines at 32 NHS Trusts--which followed dialogue with an initial 22 Trusts--identified 'unwarranted variation' in the use of resources ranging from staff to land and buildings on such a scale that effectively addressing this 'variation' could, the DH-commissioned team says, potentially reduce by £5 bn annually the NHS in England's costs.

Be aware of the Adjusted Treatment Index

The authors of the interim report relating to the Review of Operational Productivity in NHS providers, published in June of this year, are, as many will know, developing a set of Adjusted Treatment Index (ATI) metrics, and are also to publish a model of their interpretation of what an estates department should look like in terms of its operational productivity and cost. This article argues that the underlying reason for the past failures was the creation of static 'point-value' metrics similar to the ATIs proposed, and that this can only be overcome by designing and populating a series of non-linear dynamic simulation models with feedback control of an organisation's estate in relation to its asset base and condition with respect to time, together with the resultant financial capital and revenue consequences. It concludes by calling on IHEEM's Council to urgently make representation to the authors of the June 2015 report, and suggests that the Institute's members be fully involved in the design, testing, and interpretation, of the estates model and ATIs. IHEEM's Technology Platforms are ideally placed to play a central role in this.

Ensuring that fire doors are fit for purpose

Neil Ashdown, general manager of the Fire Door lnspecion Scheme (FDIS), considers the key steps for ensuring that fire doors are correctly specified, installed, maintained, inspected, and, when necessary, repaired, to enable them to effectively fulfil their role.

Putting estates issues higher on the agenda

In HEJ's May issue we reported on the first 'half' of a lively two-and-a-half-hour roundtable discussion jointly staged by IHEEM and building and engineering services association, the B&ES, in London, which sought both to determine 'the vexed question of why so many hospital buildings services engineering projects seem to be fraught with problems', with a particular focus on 'poor commissioning', and to identify some potential solutions. Here we report on the debate's 'second half'.

Water heaters subject to new regulations

On 26 September 2015 the Ecodesign and Energy Labelling Directives for water heaters (Lot 2) come into force, meaning that water-heating products sold in the UK and other countries in the European Economic Area will need to meet minimum energy performance criteria in order to be legally placed on the market, and will require an energy label. Here Alan Clarke, technical support manager at Heatrae Sadia, explains more.

International theme for seaside event

The organisers of this month's HefmA 2014 annual conference and exhibition promise delegates "the opportunity to hear international perspectives on the current issues facing the worldwide 'family' of health estates and facilities professionals". Conference speakers will include a US-based consultant architect discussing 'a transformational change programme which has achieved up to threefold greater throughput using the existing footprint in a US Emergency Department'; the assistant director, Facilities Services, at Health Facilities Scotland, focusing on HFS's work to ensure high training standards and succession planning, former BBC war correspondent, Kate Adie, describing some of the 'extraordinary experiences' of an eventful career, and Will Whitehorn, a former search-and-rescue helicopter crewman, who later became president of 'the world's first commercial spaceline', Virgin Galactic, giving his view on technology's impact in business.

Several routes to effective compliance

Alan Daniels, technical director at specialist in self-test emergency lighting and exit signs, P4, describes the latest trends in, and requirements for, emergency lighting, 'a vital part of the building services footprint in hospitals and healthcare premises'.

Residential hospice environments: evidence-based architectural and landscape design considerations

The residential hospice care movement is increasingly accepted and supported globally, and yet, unfortunately, the amount of literature on best practices in the planning and design of residential hospice facilities and adjacent outdoor spaces remains relatively small. This paper reports on a compendium of architectural and landscape design considerations that reflect the fundamental dimensions of the residential hospice experience: site and context, arrival spaces, communal and private spaces of the residential milieu, transitional spaces, and nature connectivity. Additionally, key staffing and administrative ramifications of this built-environment compendium are addressed, as are prognostications and challenges for the future.

Regulator engagement will drive take-up

In June's HEJ we reported on the first 'half' of a recent IHEEM roundtable held in Manchester in conjunction with an expert panel that included Department of Health representatives, and members of the working group that developed it, discussing the latest, 'revised and updated' NHS Premises Assurance Model. The roundtable was the first in a series IHEEM is planning to stage with the DH over the next year (a number of further such events have been held since) to promote the Model's benefits to the estates and facilities community, and encourage wider take-up. Here we cover the 'second half' of this initial panel discussion and debate, and some of the interesting questions it raised.

Plans to update benchmarking tool

The use of the current AssetMark system by hospital health facilities managers and engineers (in Australia) has decreased to a point of no activity occurring. A number of reasons have been cited, including cost, time to do, slow process, and level of information required. Based on current levels of activity, it would not be of any value to IHEA, or to its members, to continue with this form of AssetMark. For AssetMark to remain viable, it needs to be developed as a tool seen to be of value to healthcare facilities managers, and not just healthcare facility engineers. Benchmarking is still a very important requirement in the industry, and AssetMark can fulfil this need provided that it remains abreast of customer needs. The proposed future direction is to develop an online version of AssetMark with its current capabilities regarding capturing of data (12 Key Performance Indicators), reporting, and user interaction. The system would also provide end-users with access to live reporting features via a user-friendly web nterface linked through the IHEA web page.