HOSPITALS & HEALTHCARE


recognised this was never going to meet the full demand. Therefore, plans were embedded to deploy ISS employees from private sector business areas who were being placed into furlough. Once this group was assessed, other commercial companies would be approached to add their resources.


Cleaning a London hospital theatre is very different to cleaning hospital theatres elsewhere in the country; although the temporary staff may well have some basic transferable skills, they needed to be fully trained in what is expected of them at the NHS Nightingale Hospital.


Equally, new and redeployed employees needed to be made aware of the environment they would be working in, which would be alien to most of them. The new Nightingale Hospital has been created for a single purpose: to provide care for those who are suffering from the extreme end of a global pandemic.


Excellence in training Once people started coming forward the next thing to be agreed was where training could take place. The most convenient venue was the Sunborn Yacht Hotel, which is berthed just outside of the ExCeL and is coincidentally managed by ISS. The common areas of the yacht provide ideal spaces where the basic half day classroom training could take place. And again, ISS food services were in place to ensure nutritious meals are available around the clock to ensure that hard-working colleagues could complete their ground-breaking work.


Once the classroom activities, including health, safety and hygiene practices were completed, the specific task training could take place. Initially, as the exhibition centre was being transformed additional training was completed in the massive central concourse, but now Nightingale is operational, this area became the non-clinical area of the hospital where all the relevant supplies are delivered and waste removed. Training is now undertaken in the lower levels.


Prior to the hospital going live in April 2020 ISS trained over 400 people to be ready on day one and this will continue until the temporary site has fulfilled its purpose.


Groundwork and operational FM To ensure a smooth workflow, the hospital operation will run from east to west, with the admissions being assessed in approximately 35 beds before moving into the central area of intensive care that will have a capacity of almost 3,300 beds. A final step-down area will offer over 700 further beds for those patients who are expected to be released post-treatment.


The central concourse also offers staff food service facilities with many major food producers donating products for free as a ‘thank you’ to those who are working above and beyond the normal call of duty.


Succour At the time of writing, it is very early days but one thing that clinical staff can depend upon, is that ISS will be


www.tomorrowsfm.com


there ensuring that the whole hospital runs efficiently, night and day and for as long as it is required.


Chris Ash concluded: “The project shows what can be achieved when all parties work for a common goal and normal procurement barriers are removed. The interaction, communication and collaborative working of all companies under the banner of the NHS, along with the military, is a clear testament to the British ‘can do’ attitude in times of crisis.


“It also highlights the fact that we have so many fantastic people working within ISS. People with great commitment, passion and a can-do attitude. Our teams have worked around the clock seven days a week to make this happen and to ensure our ISS services are ready when Nightingale is fully open to patients.”


www.issgroup.co.uk/ TOMORROW’S FM | 51


“The new


Nightingale Hospital has been created for a


single purpose: to provide care for those who are


suffering from the extreme end of a global pandemic.”


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