RECENT NEWS

New laws ‘putting growth, small businesses, and transparency, at the heart of public contract awards’ are now in force as part of ‘a transformation’ of the government’s commercial landscape that delivers on the Plan for Change.

Cagni Williams Architects has launched a sister practice, Cagni Williams Energy, to focus on project decarbonisation, and particularly decarbonising dense urban areas.

Amanda Pritchard, who has been CEO of NHS England since August 2021, and Chief Operating Officer since 2019 – ‘leading the NHS through the most challenging period in its 76-year history’ – has notified the NHS England Board of her decision to stand down as NHS England CEO at the end of this financial year.

Multidisciplinary consultancy, Pick Everard, has expanded its Health & Safety (H&S) team, welcoming two senior new personnel as it strengthens its position as one of the largest H&S teams within a UK consultancy.

Sodexo Health & Care has joined forces with Culinary Medicine UK, a non-profit organisation, to further enhance patient care with a dedicated online platform that it says offers NHS staff ‘access to valuable nutrition education modules’.

NHS Shared Business Services (NHS SBS) has launched a new framework agreement, Building Safety and Fire Compliance, ‘to address the need for robust fire safety systems in healthcare settings’.

Rockwool, the global non-combustible insulation manufacturer, has taken the next step towards building a second UK production facility, on the Peddimore site, near Minworth, north-east of Birmingham.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has issued new guidance to help manufacturers meet UK medical devices regulations and ensure that digital mental health technologies are ‘effective, reliable, and acceptably safe.’

The ‘pioneering’ London Ambulance Service (LAS) team that brings together mental health experts and paramedics is celebrating a decade of providing specialist mental healthcare across the capital.

Over two-thirds (68%) of UK healthcare leaders are revising their strategic plans every three months or more frequently, driven by mounting global economic pressures and cybersecurity threats, according to research by the Association for Project Management (APM) – the chartered membership organisation for the project management profession.

Working together, Wantage Town Council, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust and the local NHS, Oxfordshire County Council, and Vale of White Horse District Council, have agreed an investment programme that will see nearly £1 m being used to refurbish Wantage Community Hospital’s ground floor so that it can accommodate more clinic-based services across physical healthcare and mental health.

More innovative healthcare technologies could soon be adopted by the NHS under reforms proposed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

Leading architect, design, and masterplanning practice, FWP’s specialist mental health team is working with Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust to ‘transform’ its Health-Based Places of Safety (HBPoS).

On 27 March the Healthcare Infection Society (HIS) will facilitate a workshop, sponsored by Sidara, and held at the latter’s central London headquarters, which will bring together experts from across the construction and infection prevention professions to address mitigating infection risks in hospital design and construction.

A new analysis from Siemens Financial Services (SFS) – titled ‘Healthcare spending: addressing the big issue?’, assesses ‘the widening gap between healthcare resources and healthcare costs’, and – as the business puts it – ‘the role of financing in closing this rift’.

Version 1, ‘a global leader in digital transformation’, has been awarded a national contract to support The Health Service Executive (HSE) in delivering ‘digitally enabled’ healthcare services across Ireland.

The Combustion Engineering Association (CEA)’s new General manager, Michael Kaye (pictured), has a strong background in mechanical and design engineering, coupled with years of industry leadership, and – the Association says – brings both expertise and a fresh perspective to the long-standing trade association and educational charity.

Peabodys, which first began serving ‘gourmet organic’ Fairtrade coffee and freshly prepared food within hospitals in London in 1997, has recently opened its 12th coffee shop, at St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester.

Healthcare engineers looking to get a better understanding of UPS systems in medical environments can learn about the latest guidance on the subject provided by HTM 06-01 in an hour-long free webinar hosted by Kohler Uninterruptible Power in conjunction with Health Estate Journal taking place at 11.00 a.m. on 18 March.

Carrier is expanding its apprenticeship programme in the UK, in a move that it says reaffirms its commitment to training highly skilled HVAC professionals and helping to bridge the skills gap in the industry.