TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT Expert Advice
which expertise, views, and ideas can be shared.
The IHEEM Advisory Platforms
comprise a range of experts across specialist healthcare topics which, while not technical, have an impact on the delivery of the healthcare estate built environment. They exist to support IHEEM members, and delivery of the IHEEM Business Plan and Annual Business Priorities. Their overarching role is to encourage collaboration and innovative thinking, and to support and promote improvement in their given area. As this month’s Healthcare Estates 2024
conference and exhibition witnesses the largest coming together of healthcare engineering and estates management professionals in the UK, IHEEM’s Technical and Advisory Platforms will be represented throughout the programme, as well as being available to meet delegates at the Drop-In Surgery at the IHEEM Members’ Lounge. Here, Platform representatives will give an overview of primary objectives, recent activity, member benefits, and plans for the future.
Decontamination Technical Platform
Brian Kirk DTP Chair
Overview The Decontamination Technical Platform
(DTP) is made up of the 30 IHEEM- registered Authorising Engineers (Decontamination) with expertise in the decontamination of single-use and reusable medical devices and pharmaceutical products. The Authorising Engineers (Decontamination) provide expert advice to healthcare, and, to a lesser extent, industrial facilities, involved in the decontamination of medical devices.
In a healthcare facility decontamination primarily involves cleaning, disinfection, and sterilisation of reusable medical devices such as endoscopes and surgical instrument sets. In an industrial setting new medical devices or pharmaceutical products are sterilised prior to release for use on patients. AE (D)s follow a carefully defined training and registration process. Initially candidates are requested to submit a CV, which will identify their experience and training in the field. If accepted, they will be admitted to a training framework which requires a series of both practical and theoretical modules to be studied, and course work submitted, covering the breadth of knowledge which an AE (D) is expected to have and understand. Upon completion of the formal studies a candidate is invited to attend an in- person interview, where the application of the gained knowledge will be tested via written papers and their suitability to practice by face-to-face interview. Upon registration the AE (D) is expected to submit a professional review and
The responsibility of being an AE (D), and being able to directly impact patient safety, is a fulfilling experience. We are all in decontamination to improve the patient experience and patient safety
Mark was enrolled on the Authorising Engineer framework, and looks back on his time at NWSSP SES as a fantastic period in his
working career, feeling he could not have been better supported, especially with his Continuing Professional Development. In 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mark joined the Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board Estates Department as Operational Estates Manager, based at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital, and describes his first few months as ‘a baptism of fire’. He reflects: ‘I was fortunate to return to the organisation where I started as an apprentice, to a senior management position, and enjoyed my three years within the Estates Department. The experience of managing a team, working on capital projects and backlog maintenance programmes, enhanced my leadership and management skills.” Mark currently works for Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board, as Decontamination Officer within Infection
Prevention and Control. Having progressed his career through Estates and Decontamination positions, he qualified as an Authorised Engineer (Decontamination) in August 2023, and works independently from his NHS role as Mark Furmage AE Services, providing AE (D) services and decontamination training. Mark says of the AE process: “Anyone who has completed the AE (D) framework will know that there is a substantial amount of work required to complete the course. It was an extremely proud moment within my career to become an IHEEM-registered AE (D). The responsibility of being an AE (D), and being able to directly impact patient safety, is a fulfilling experience. We are all in decontamination to improve the patient experience and patient safety. “I look forward to the future, and to continuing my professional development while keeping abreast of modern
technology, in the ever-evolving landscape around the decontamination of medical devices. It is always good to share knowledge with other AE(D)s, and to have people to call on when required.” Mark would also like to thank the late Graham Stanton AE (D). He says: “Graham is sadly missed by all in the decontamination world, and I thank him for his support over many years.”
October 2024 Health Estate Journal 11
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