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HEALTH SECTOR NEWS NTH EFM team’s efforts draw high praise


Reflecting on the past 12 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mike Worden (pictured), managing director of NTH Solutions LLP – the estates and facilities provider for North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust – has emphasised the important role that his team of estates and facilities staff have played in supporting the doctors, nurses, and fellow healthcare colleagues working ‘around the clock’ to provide patient care.


He said: “Alongside our clinical colleagues, there is an equally dedicated, resilient, and courageous workforce, without whose work our Trust would not have been able to respond and react in the way that we did. We have had a fundamental role in the delivery and response to the pandemic.”


The Procurement Department at NTH Solutions has, he says, ‘worked tirelessly‘ to source and maintain a good stock of PPE, ‘even at times of greatest pressure’, while the Decontamination team has also helped create reusable sterile gowns ‘to provide a more environmentally-friendly alternative to single-use PPE for frontline


staff, both at the Trust, and across the UK’.


Meanwhile, the Estates team ensured that the required oxygen infrastructure was in place, with Medical Engineering staff working with Trust colleagues to ensure that expertise was aligned, and patient care was not interrupted. The team also built a new, more efficient urgent care entrance to help the Trust manage the increase in emergency admissions experienced each winter. In addition, NTH Solutions’ dedicated team of domestics worked ‘around the clock’ to help prevent the spread of infection within the hospital, catering staff


Dementia Design Tool launched


‘to promote independent living’ Gradus has launched an interactive Dementia Design Tool to enable designers and specifiers to create inclusive designs for their buildings, so people with dementia can use them independently and comfortably. Created in association with the Dementia Services Development Centre (DSDC) at the


University of Stirling, it is part of Gradus’s new ‘See Through Their Eyes’ campaign to raise industry awareness of the importance of dementia-inclusive design in healthcare facilities.


Available to use in consultation with the


company’s ‘team of specialists’, the Gradus Dementia Design Tool ‘guides designers and specifiers through every step of the design process’ – ensuring that dementia-inclusivity is ‘automatically built’ into projects.


‘For every room’, users can choose from a wide range of Gradus and Gerflor solutions, all certified by the Dementia


Services Development Centre ‘in recognition of how they help to reduce trips, slips and falls, offer support and guidance, and negate sight loss, by aiding navigation around a building’. The tool provides guidance on tonal contrast, one of the critical aspects of dementia design. For example, it is vital that people with dementia can see where the floor ends and the wall begins, requiring at least 30 points of light reflectance value (LRV) between the two surfaces. Accordingly, the tool warns users with red crosses when two surfaces are failing to provide the correct


contrast, and reassures them with green ticks when the contrast is acceptable. The ‘See Through Their Eyes’ campaign promotes independent living for people with dementia, limited sight, and cognitive issues, and seeks to raise awareness of the need to design public buildings ‘so more people can live independent and fulfilling lives for longer’.


set up a ‘pop-up shop’ for colleagues to get their necessities when supermarkets were low on supplies, and the portering team ‘went above and beyond’ to safely accompany patients in the hospital ‘with the highest possible level of patient care and reassurance’.


NTH Solutions’ services were also extended beyond the Trust, with the team launching the NHS Deep Cleaning and Advisory Service – a national brand to help standardise levels of cleaning across the country.


Mike Worden added: “I am very proud of how the whole team at NTH Solutions has responded. It’s our ability to recognise the value of eachother and be kind to eachother during the pandemic that has made us so effective in our response to COVID-19.


“We’re nothing without eachother. Everyone who works in this organisation has an expertise, knowledge, an insight, and a view. I am so grateful for the value this organisation has. The knowledge about infrastructure, about PPE, about how to get the best out of challenging situations – this organisation has that.”


‘Perfecting’ surgical


site illumination A new, ‘improved’ Q-Flow surgical light – available in the UK from Bender UK – has been launched by Merivaara of Finland. The ‘enhanced’ Q-Flow 2021 has been ‘re-formed’ in terms of optics, resilience, colour temperature, and extended autonomy. Bender UK says the optics been improved to deliver an increased depth of illumination, creating a longer, more precise column of light that easily penetrates deep human cavities. A new green ambient feature reportedly creates ‘a perfect lighting environment to reduce fatigue during keyhole surgery, with better camera image quality and less reflection’. The advanced touchscreen interface has improved touch accuracy. A new low voltage detection feature prevents disruption to surgery in the event of an outage. Should a mains failure occur, Q-Flow 2021 switches to battery mode, and theatre staff are notified. A lamp head battery ensures the light continues to work during electrical blackouts, and with extended autonomy, the light detects lower voltage and adjusts illumination levels to extend the operating life up to six hours.


June 2021 Health Estate Journal 13


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