PNEUMATIC TUBE SYSTEMS
But the fact that A&E cannot send carriers does not necessarily mean that the A&E unit itself is faulty. The problem could be an overfilled basket at another station within the same zone, or a fault with another piece of equipment somewhere else in the system. If nobody checks the control system, the actual cause of
Tom Hughes
Tom Hughes began his career in the pneumatic tube industry shortly after the millennium, working as an electrician for his uncle, John Hughes, who owned and managed Aerocom. In 2006, Tom joined Aerocom to supervise major projects, eventually becoming general manager. Today, he serves as the principal shareholder and MD of Aerocom (UK) Ltd. Under his leadership, the company continues to cement its dominant position within the UK pneumatic tube industry while successfully diversifying into modern internal logistics, including automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and robotics.
the fault will not be identified; it will be logged as the PTS station is broken at A&E. If this in fact was a station on the same zone with an overfilled basket, which the staff resolved, the next time they used their station and the zone reset, a breakdown assistance request will send maintenance staff to A&E where there is nothing malfunctioning. The alarm is telling us something. The challenge is
understanding what it is telling us. Adding a more detailed alarm report to the Command
& Control Centre will only be effective if the person responsible for reacting to that information understands what the PTS itself is reporting, not the consequence.
Alarm reaction The people who really matter will not change. It will still be the FM personnel with the training, experience and tools who ultimately solve the majority of problems in reality. It is these people who need appropriate access to the PTS control system over the network – not simply a relay providing a basic alarm signal. For FM maintenance staff, daily operation develops
site-specific expertise. Experienced personnel understand far more than the fundamentals and can manage the system fluidly as part of the wider hospital infrastructure. PPM contractor support will still occasionally be required, particularly where specialist knowledge or intervention is necessary. The question we therefore need to ask is: what practical function does a go-between provide if their role is simply to convey an alarm message – unless they are also capable of filtering out the easily solvable day-to-day issues?
Warnings are clearly displayed in the real time graphics.
Preparing PTS management for the future Starting mainly with the RAAC-built hospitals, the first phase of New Hospital Programme designs is now moving towards the construction stage, with many projects expected to be ready for occupation by 2032. The transition for estate management personnel will, in many instances, present new challenges. The intention is to provide increasingly sophisticated support services, with automation wherever practical. Pneumatic tube systems are planned for each new hospital, with server-based control systems fully interfacing
with Command & Control Centre monitoring. Unlike many of the systems currently operating on older sites, these new installations will incorporate a host of new equipment and technologies. The demand so far is for larger-capacity PTS
infrastructure, using Ø160 mm tube rather than the more common Ø110 mm systems. New designs incorporate extensive services throughout these buildings, with smaller user groupings distributed across more zones and connected using robotic coupling devices. Laboratory innovations allow the automatic unloading of samples and the return of empty carriers without human intervention. Further automation is available to deliver samples directly to laboratory analysers or pharmaceuticals from pharmacy robots. For FM personnel currently operating a basic PTS –
perhaps one retrofitted around the turn of the millennium and providing a relatively straightforward service across two to four zones – the transition could be comparable to stepping out of an old Ford Escort and into a Tesla and then being asked to maintain it. The technology may be very different, but the underlying requirement remains the same: someone still has to understand how it works. When a new system is commissioned on a completely new site, the PTS supplier provides training for FM staff. This is inevitably more challenging than upgrading an existing system where there is already a long-standing connection with experienced FM personnel who have operated the previous installation. There is, however, some consolation for the first phase
of the new hospitals. They already have PTS systems in operation. For many FM teams, the new installation will therefore represent another upgrade rather than an entirely new concept. The same applies to system management. The PTS is simply another system within a large number of systems that must be managed across a modern hospital estate. The real difference will be incorporating the Command
& Control Centre concept into established operating and maintenance protocols.
Experience will be the real test Over the next few years, we will develop our advised strategy based on a small hospital that is pioneering the Command & Control Centre concept with one of our latest server-integrated PTS systems.
Experience is, in most cases, more valuable than theory. That experience will allow us to see how the new monitoring arrangements work in practice, how alarms are interpreted, who responds to them and, perhaps most importantly, whether centralised monitoring genuinely improves system management. The technology will undoubtedly continue to develop.
PTS will become more automated, more interconnected, and more deeply integrated into the wider hospital infrastructure. But one thing will not change. An alarm is only useful if somebody understands what it means. The most sophisticated Command & Control Centre
in the world cannot replace practical knowledge, appropriate training, and experienced FM personnel. The future of PTS management is therefore not simply about connecting the system to another server. It is about making sure that when the system raises the alarm, the right person understands why it has done so – and knows what to do next. That is what will ultimately keep these increasingly
sophisticated systems running as smoothly as ever for the hospitals by streamlining reactions to irregularities for the FM teams which maintain them.
46 Health Estate Journal November 2026
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 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72
