As healthcare designers, part of our skillset is to provide assurance that we are meeting all the requirements stipulated in guidance and legislation documents. Increasingly, we are asked to evidence the thought processes behind our design to ensure we have identified, assessed, and mitigated risk. Patient safety is inherently about not causing harm; thus proactively

October’s Healthcare Estates 2024 conference in Manchester saw some topical, thought-provoking, and insightful conference presentations from NHS leaders, academics, and industry experts, with the broad-ranging content touching on some of the biggest challenges and opportunities for the healthcare engineering and estates and facilities management community, and the associated professionals working in the design and construction

Presenting in the opening morning keynote session under the conference theme, Estates & Facilities Services, on the second day of Healthcare Estates 2024 were three speakers representing large organisations – NHS England, multinational professional services partnership, EY, and the healthcare division of Siemens AG. Their focus was some of the major workforce challenges and opportunities

The Building Safety Act (BSA),1 introduced in response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy to fundamentally reform the building safety system, is a significant legislative change that impacts new and existing hospital buildings undergoing building work during both design and construction. It strengthens the regulatory framework for building safety, ensuring greater accountability and responsibility throughout the

We all know that, since the announcement by the National Health Service in 2020, that it is the ambition of the service to achieve Net Zero emissions by 2045. It is reported that the NHS generates between 4% and 5% of the country’s greenhouse gases and one quarter of all public sector waste. The main

Good acoustic design is vitally important to all healthcare settings, and this is addressed in Health Technical Memorandum (HTM) 08-01: Acoustics, and Health Building Note 00-10 Part B: Walls and Ceilings. Both highlight the importance of good design, and outline the policy and performance requirements for walls and ceilings used in healthcare settings. From specialist

It’s no secret that needlestick injuries (NSI) represent a significant risk to all healthcare setting staff — from clinicians to cleaners. Leaders know that robust mitigation strategies are an essential and mandatory way to protect people from harm, and organisations from avoidable costs. However, it’s also important to recognise that some of these strategies can

As healthcare architects, we cover a vast array of topics in a day — from Net Zero Carbon to digital transformation, wellbeing, and clinical services. At the heart of everything we do is safety, and the recent Building Safety Act, whilst inherently focused on fire compliance issues post-Grenfell, also stresses the overarching requirement for people

The newly opened Clinical Research Excellence And Training Open Resource (CREATOR) is a specialist postgraduate medical and research training centre in Malawi. It will provide the most sophisticated clinical research training environment in the region, and will be truly transformational and life-changing for the African nation. CREATOR, which has been built in the city of

In the UK, the NHS produces 20 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year, and the healthcare sector’s sizeable carbon footprint is not a problem specific to the UK. In the USA, for example, the healthcare sector is responsible for 8.5% of the country’s total carbon emissions. Concerningly, the sector’s carbon emissions increased by 6%

Ensuring the safety and efficiency of water systems in healthcare estates is critical to protecting patient health and maintaining a secure environment. Hospitals, GP practices, and care homes, rely on large, complex water systems that must be carefully managed to prevent contamination and reduce risks such as Legionella outbreaks. Alongside its critical role in hospital

The largest health research organisation in Canada had one chance to get it right — ‘it’ being building two mini-operating rooms (ORs) in a live suite of 20 sterile ORs. “We’re talking about a city of individuals that are having different surgeries in 16 to 18 ORs at any one time,” said Christopher Rizzo, Executive

A system that prevents electrical accidents in hospitals and other healthcare facilities is vital to electrical safety, protecting patients, personnel, and medical equipment, preventing electrical fires and burns, and ensuring that unnecessary downtime is avoided and the service life of surgical equipment is extended. It is essential, in our view, to stimulate discussion about vital

Always a great opportunity to catch up with news, industry developments, and friends from across the sector, the 2024 Healthcare Estates IHEEM Awards dinner began with pre-dinner drinks in the Whitworth Room at Manchester’s distinctive and stylish Kimpton Clocktower Hotel. While there, guests had the opportunity to meet and reminisce with Kevin Keegan OBE, one

Nigel Keery, an IHEEM Council Member who will be well-known to many in healthcare EFM and engineering circles for his gregarious personality, enthusiasm, humour, and open, friendly manner, made clear to me during an interesting 45-minute ‘Teams’ chat that he has loved working in healthcare engineering, and that — given his time again, he would