GOVERNANCE AND ASSURANCE
in the IHEEM Handbook. I’m also hoping that our Platforms and AEs will play a key part in our 2021 Healthcare Estates online and on-demand conference in October. Our new multi-streaming format will be the perfect opportunity for them to share knowledge and best practice, and highlight their plans for the future. This builds on the success of our recent AE online event, ‘The Importance of the Role of an IHEEM Authorising Engineer’, which was well attended, with over 200 registrations (see also 17-20, and 39-42).”
Providing confidence
Providing confidence for clients that IHEEM’s AE appointment and re- registrations process ensures due diligence and robust peer review was one of the key drivers for the review. In relation to the importance of AEs from a client’s perspective, Nigel Keery, Head of Estates Operations, Belfast Health & Social Care Trust, said: “We use AE services extensively, and rely on them being the best they can be. It’s extremely important that the services are offered as part of a framework and structure that assesses an individual’s competence, knowledge, and expertise, in their given specialism. As a client we want to know that the AE is continually learning and developing, that they are accessing the best knowledge for their discipline, and are up to date with all the legislative and best practice changes. We have to be assured that we are being given appropriate independent advice to ensure that our patients and staff are in the safest and best facilities. IHEEM’s revised Terms of Reference for its Technical Platforms and AEs provide that structure and due diligence on behalf of the client. This is essential, since the role of the AE is growing and evolving as the requirements of patient care become more complex, and the use of materials becomes more demanding. Their independence is vital, so that they can bring their wider experience to us, and share their learning with our staff at the Trust.”
Highly respected AE’s view David Harper, EngTech, FIHEEM, FWMSOC, MCIPHE, MIET, HFSoPHE, Public Health Officer, hospital engineer, and IHEEM Registered AE(Water), says of his perspective on the role of an AE and what ‘the law of the land’ requires: “Being a member of IHEEM in whatever capacity is a privilege and an honour in its own right, as IHEEM is respected all over the world. My career in healthcare began in Middlesex in 1967 when I was appointed Chief Superintendent Engineer. Over the years that title has changed to Estate Manager, Hospital Engineer, Senior Engineer, Head of Engineering, and Estates Manager, but in reality, whatever the title, you are still held to account by the hierarchy of the hospital.
Nigel Keery, Head of Estates Operations, Belfast Health & Social Care Trust, said: “We use AE services extensively, and rely on them being the best they can be.”
“The last hospital that I worked at was Kingston District General Hospital in Surrey, where in 1979 the first outbreak of the then little-known Legionnaire’s Disease occurred.
“In the early days, very little was known about this disease, especially from the engineering point of view, so we had to start from square one. Thankfully, we know a lot more nowadays, and some of the engineering solutions that were developed during those early times are now accepted worldwide and formed the basis for the regulations and legislation that we see today – for example, the Approved Code of Practice L8, Legionnaires’ disease. The control of legionella bacteria in water systems, and the guidance, HSG 274 Parts 1 to 3, as well as the Health Technical Memoranda and other documentation which must now be applied to healthcare buildings.”
Hands-on experience
David Harper continued: “Authorised Engineers, across a number of disciplines, are appointed to provide technical support and independent expert advice. IHEEM set up registers to ensure that when AEs carry out their duties in healthcare premises, they are qualified to do so, i.e. they have time served, hands-on experience, and that they have a full understanding of all the relevant regulatory and legal requirements. When any individual applies to become a registered IHEEM AE, they have to go through a peer review of their qualifications and experience, which are looked at in precise detail to ensure that they are – as the court would say – 'fit for purpose' to carry out their AE duties. Once accepted, your certificate lasts for three years, at which point you are eligible for re- registration, when once again you are checked and peer reviewed.
“To be an AE you must be totally and utterly independent. This avoids the situation whereby an employing company could apply pressure to the AE to inform a client in a hospital of something that the company might want to supply. In this way it could be deemed that the AE is being used as a salesman. If you work for a company and are an AE, you are a servant of that company, and therefore in a court you would not be counted as being totally and utterly independent. As well as being independent, all AEs must have the right level of insurance appropriate to the duties they are carrying out. It is a legal requirement that anyone who is employed by a hospital or anywhere else must have insurance to cover them personally and publicly in case of any unforeseen situation that may occur. If you work at a hospital, but are not an employee, the hospital does not insure you. You or your employer must provide the insurance.
Called as an ‘expert witness’ “On a number of occasions, I have been called to Crown Court as an ‘expert witness’ to testify where companies or individuals have been brought to trial due to failures in water systems in hospitals, resulting – in some cases – in fatalities. In every case I have been asked to help the court determine whether the client did everything to ensure that the AE was ‘fit for purpose’, i.e. had protocols in place for their appointment and had adhered to them, and that the AE was competent and able to provide independent advice free from duress by an employer. In the event of 'guilty' verdicts, hospitals, individuals, or companies, have had to pay substantial damages.
“In summary, an AE for any discipline must be totally independent; must be insured, and must have been through an appointment or re-registration process that includes a peer review of their qualifications, experience, and knowledge.
“I was also pleased to hear that each IHEEM AE, myself included, will now be issued with a membership card, which will include their photograph, membership number, and registration expiry date. This is an important step around governance, and in providing assurance to clients that the AE before them is a registered IHEEM AE in that particular discipline.” *You can read more about this review, and further views from IHEEM’s President, Paul Fenton, and members, including David Harper, in the accompanying reports from the recent AE online event in this edition. Please also visit the IHEEM website for further information on the Technical Platforms and the Institute’s AEs, at:
https://www.iheem.org.uk/ about-us/governance
hej August 2021 Health Estate Journal 23
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60
