COVER STORY / ADVERTISING FEATURE


Advancing patient safety: a state-of-the-art upgrade


April 2026 | Volume 80 | Issue 04


Building safer and more


cost-effective


hospitals see page 35 Light and


health: beyond


compliance see page 51


Cybersecurity: the upgrade


paradox see page 57


HEJ Cover Apr26.indd 1 18/03/2026 11:13


Hexham General Hospital is part of Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, serving a dispersed rural population. Like many UK hospitals, it had ageing electrical


infrastructure, an increasing demand on electrical load, and legacy cabling that was not designed to cope with the growing number of electrical devices used in surgery, diagnostics, and patient treatment. However, a comprehensive upgrade to operating


theatres, recovery area, endoscopy rooms, and the electrical infrastructure has transformed Hexham General Hospital into one of the UK’s most advanced and electrically resilient environments for clinical care. Prior to the work, leaders at the Trust were already


Double Medical IT Power (DIPS).


pursuing an ambitious vision to create state-of-the-art theatre suites equipped with uniform technology and equipment across its entire hospital estate. They wanted to eradicate unplanned electrical disturbances in theatres, imaging suites, and treatment areas. Left unresolved, the higher potential for electrical failure can trigger interruptions to patient services through temporary closures and complex decant arrangements, increased risk of electrical safety, and direct consequences to patient flow or treatment.


Proactive monitoring of electrical failure The Trust sought a high-quality environment and earlier visibility of electrical failure through proactive monitoring of the entire electrical ecosystem, allowing engineers to intervene instantly to avoid clinically disruptive events.


Bender UK – an award-winning healthcare provider


and expert in electrical safety – had already worked with Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust on its Alnwick and Wansbeck sites, and was selected again to deliver a programme of works at Hexham because of its proven diagnostic transparency and domain expertise. This latest cutting-edge installation encompassed four


operating theatres, a five-bed recovery unit, endoscopy suites, and dental facilities, delivering a future-proof, state- of-the-art environment for both surgical teams and patients. Bender’s award-winning technology is widely used in clinical environments requiring uncompromised electrical resilience where insulation monitoring and fast fault location underpins patient and staff safety.


Healthcare-specific capabilities The appointed Bender project team worked in close collaboration with healthcare professionals, architects, and engineers on a structured discovery phase as part of the multi-million redevelopment programme at Hexham General Hospital, which will allow the Trust to deliver a wider range of procedures now and into the future. Bender’s capability, expertise, and technology


emphasise electrical safety, critical system design, and HTM compliance, matching the Trust’s need for a partner that understood medical IT power, operating theatre design, clinical dependency, and estates workflow. The agreed solution integrated the full range of Bender


healthcare-specific capabilities, resulting in a fully integrated turnkey project that has delivered one of the most robust and electrically resilient theatre environments in the country. Medical IT systems from Bender were installed


throughout, alongside uninterruptible power supplies for critical load resilience in Group 2 medical locations. Bender Pulse the new proactive service solution for


A ground-breaking turnkey healthcare project shows how an engineered approach can improve resilience while reducing operational and compliance risk. The project delivered a future-proof hospital that transforms both the delivery of patient care and the management of its electrical infrastructure.


Bender’s award-winning technology is widely used in clinical environments requiring uncompromised electrical resilience where insulation monitoring and fast fault location underpins patient and staff safety.


20 Health Estate Journal April 2026


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