SPONSORED BY HEALTH SECTOR NEWS


Device non-invasively monitors for air leaks


Coltraco Ultrasonics, which has a background in naval ultrasonic technologies for monitoring watertightness in warships and submarines, says it developed its Portascanner COVID-19 hand- held device for non-invasive monitoring for air leaks within clinical spaces, and particularly intensive care units.


It developed it working with British physicists using a Government-provided Emergency COVID-19 Technology grant last June. The company said: “The Portascanner COVID-19 is based on the technology of our award-winning, globally recognised Portascanner WATERTIGHT, an ultrasonic watertight integrity monitor used by our Royal Navy, re-designed specifically. It aims to reduce the spread of airborne disease by inspecting rooms for any leakage, and establishing the pressurised airflow rates that, unless identified, can place staff and patients at risk.”


Coltraco Ultrasonics says a December 2020 study on COVID-19 and air contamination indicated that 56% of air samples taken from hospital hallways, and 24% from hospital bathrooms, had high


levels of coronavirus (JAMA Network Open). Samples from ICU rooms were more than twice as likely to be positive, at a rate of 25.2%, compared with 10.7% for non-ICU rooms. The company explained: “We realised we could contribute to preventing the spread of airborne pathogens in healthcare settings, and thereby significantly reducing contamination between wards, which also includes harmful substances such as bacteria, gases, and chemicals etc. We have highly accurately measured holes as small as 0.5 mm in diameter, almost invisible to the naked eye. “Our hand-held Portascanner COVID-19 allows healthcare and pharmaceutical personnel, with minimal training, to locate and then quantify the leaks in hospital wards, cleanrooms, and sterilisation departments. They can calculate the airflow rate through these leaks, generating an air permeability value for an entire room/ward, and compare this against the required value for pressurisation. Quantifying the extent of the leak, or the air permeability rate, is crucial to ensuring positive/negative pressurisation.”


Communities set to benefit from new NHS property disposal policy


NHS Property Services (NHSPS), alongside the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England &


Improvement, has developed a new policy that will see proceeds of disposals from surplus buildings and properties within the NHSPS estate shared with local health economies. Fifty per cent of the net proceeds from property disposals of up to £5 m will now go to local health economies for reinvestment, supporting the development of key schemes within the NHSPS estate, at the Integrated Care Systems (ICS) level. The other 50 per cent will continue to be pooled nationally, and reinvested countrywide to fund priority building improvements. NHSPS has also committed to applying the reinvestment to property handed back for disposal since 1 April 2020. It says the policy will allow for greater local engagement on potential disposals, as NHSPS regional teams work closely with ICS to develop plans for reinvestment.


14 Health Estate Journal June 2021


Martin Steele, NHSPS chief executive (pictured), said: “Ensuring healthcare


economies across the country can reinvest proceeds in important local schemes is an affordable approach within existing capital budgets, and will support the NHS in meeting its Long Term Plan objectives. The past 12 months have been some of the hardest in the NHS’s history, and by backdating this new policy we hope to provide even more benefit to the healthcare system, and support the optimisation of the estate post-COVID.”


The implementation of this new disposal policy was a key deliverable in response to the 2019 Public Account Committee’s review and report. NHSPS says it has worked closely with DHSC and NHSE&I, and its own customers, to ‘meet and surpass’ the targets set within the report – which have included reducing debt, regularising occupancy, and improving local engagement.


Work starts on new Western General linac facility


Work has begun on a new linear accelerator treatment facility at NHS Lothian’s Western General Hospital (WGH) in Edinburgh, designed by HLM Architects, and being delivered by RMF Health (a consortium of Robertson Construction and FES). The two-storey centre is part of an Oncology Enabling Works programme that will retain capacity for Oncology Services at the site until a new purpose-built Edinburgh Cancer Centre is delivered. It features new radiation shielded bunkers, a cancer assessment unit, and oncology administration offices. HLM explained: “The challenging project is being delivered in a live hospital environment, and physically links to the existing Radiotherapy Department, to enable inpatient transfer between areas. The specialist design will ensure the project can be delivered without disrupting NHS Lothian’s clinical services, while retaining ambulance access to the adjacent departments and buildings.” One of the key project goals is to make the new building as non-clinical in feel as possible. The ‘linac’ treatment rooms include a ceiling grid resembling a bright sky with trees to help relax patients during treatment. The rooms feature calming colours, ‘timber accents’, and warm tones, to provide a


comfortable, tranquil feel. HLM says biophilia is also a prominent feature, with ‘symbolic references to patterns, textures, and colours commonly found in nature’. Staff spaces are ‘bright and bold’ to contrast with the clinical spaces, and include softer, more tactile spaces, to provide a break from the clinical environment. The new facility is being delivered by Robertson Construction on behalf of RMF Health through Frameworks Scotland 3, a framework managed by Health Facilities Scotland.


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