EFM POLICY AND STRATEGY IN WALES
Stuart Douglas highlighted a collaborative opportunity to build a new regional health park in Llantrisant, to focus predominantly on day elective and diagnostic work. He said: “The location is on the M4, and we have the Cwm Taf Morgannwg, Aneurin Bevan, and Cardiff Health Boards collaborating on the plans.”
in the Welsh NHS. He said: “One of the most urgent is around our workforce – we need to train and develop our own, both at operative and management levels. One of our recent successes has been for our Head of Property (Clive Ball) to work with the University of South Wales to set up their Real Estate degree course. It’s one of several workstreams we are following to be able to ‘grow our own’ in the field. However, we need this across the trades. We’ve a very high age profile across NHS Wales, with a large proportion of our professional and tradespeople set to retire in the next 10 years, and it typically takes at least five years to get new entrants trained and qualified.” I wondered what he feels are some of the biggest obstacles to attracting new entrants to healthcare EFM and engineering roles. He said: “Comparative pay rates for similar roles in the private sector may be a factor, but we are also competing for people across a wide range of activities. I think there’s the opportunity to really showcase the fantastic things we do. Our hospitals are full of complex engineering elements – high voltage power, transformers, back-up generators, massive boilers, heating and air- conditioning plant, and sterilisers etc.” He continued: “Some of the things
we’re dealing with are really exciting. Joel Holley, one of our trainees, won an award for his contribution during an unplanned shutdown following an accident at one of our hospitals in South Wales, when he stayed on site through the night, working to restore power. The Director of Estates at his placement was thrilled with his professional attitude, and when you’ve patients that need to be treated, having that pressure is exciting.”
Network75 Stuart Douglas explained that Joel is one of a number of NWSSP’s Network75 students, and is studying for an Electrical Engineering degree. He said: “In recent years we’ve had seven students join us as
26 Health Estate Journal March 2024
ACORN, a consortium led by developer and investor Kajima, in partnership with Sacyr, ABDN, and lead designer, White Arkitekter, have been selected to deliver the Velindre Cancer Centre in Whitchurch, a suburb north of Cardiff.
Network75 trainees, mainly in mechanical and electrical engineering, but some now in surveying.” (‘Network75’ is a combined work placement and part-time study route to a degree allowing students to ‘Work, Earn and Learn’ run by University of South Wales). He continued: “These young people are really talented, but we need more.” I asked him what role a professional engineering institution like IHEEM could play in addressing such recruitment challenges? He replied: “I think it can play a significant role. IHEEM is, for instance, beginning to move into accreditation, and I’ve seen that happen with decontamination. I’m really impressed with IHEEM. The Institute does some fabulous work. I’ve known Pete Sellars for many years, and he’s passionate about what IHEEM does to support good professional estate management and engineering in healthcare.”
I had also spoken to Stuart Douglas
previously about what UK healthcare EFM and engineering professionals can learn from other countries. He said: “IHEEM also has a key role here in inviting people from healthcare systems abroad to come and present to us. Such knowledge-sharing is invaluable.” Stuart Douglas has also spoken regularly about the need for the NHS in Wales to free up or dispose of underutilised space, and benefit from the resulting savings. He said: “Following a Welsh Government request, this financial year we’ve gone to Health Boards and NHS Trusts and asked them for proposals for a rationalisation of their non-clinical space. We’re now evaluating these. You can imagine there’ll be a range of ambition, and it will be an iterative process.” Stuart Douglas explained that NWSSP SES has also purchased a product called OccupEye, from fm:systems, which uses sensors fitted under desks or on meeting room walls in particular areas. The associated software then provides the user organisation with a clear picture of its space utilisation. He said: “It’s a great tool for opening the eyes
of Health Boards on how much of the time their space is actually utilised. We’ve just received further funding so we can get OccupEye out to Health Boards, which should inform our future rationalisation processes. “Another aspect here,” Stuart Douglas
continued, “is that we have a finite clinical workforce. When we build these new facilities, there are always redistributions of workforce. What we must do – picking on Llantrisant as an example – is to consider the whole, and here demand and capacity are key. We need to focus on our existing capacity, what demand is there, and then decide what we need. There will then be the opportunity to shed space and invest our resources in making what we really need really good.”
Local resistance to closures As occurs in many locations, I have heard of instances of local resistance when proposals surface to close often underutilised or ageing properties as part of estate rationalisation. Stuart Douglas said: “When you live in a small country, the impact tends to be felt more. In the future though, we can explore the opportunity of taking our local residents on the planning journey with us, in order that they can participate in the full investment (and disinvestment) planning process. Take local people on that journey, and the chances of success increase.” Stuart Douglas feels the important
role played by healthcare engineers and healthcare estates and facilities personnel in running and maintaining healthcare facilities is at last gaining recognition, with the RAAC issue, for instance, having really made people consider the safety of their premises. He said: “This is where hospitals look to their Estates advisors; COVID did the same, with healthcare engineers and EFM personnel providing field hospitals. There’s increased awareness of the risks from our ageing estate; people are looking more to Estates Directors for accurate assessments of condition, compliance,
Courtesy of NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership – Specialist Estates Services
Courtesy of White Arkitekter
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