DIGITAL EFM TECHNOLOGY
Nigel Robinson
Nigel Robinson is General manager of Service Works Global (SWG), a leading international provider of facilities, workplace, and building lifecycle management software. The company’s computer-aided facilities management (CAFM), public-private partnership (PPP/ PFI) performance management, and BIM software, are used at over 100,000 sites worldwide, notably in many healthcare institutions and by NHS Trusts.
Nigel Robinson has
over 18 years’ experience in Professional Services, including eight as professional services director at SWG. He is responsible for identifying opportunities for growth, both by strengthening partnerships with existing clients, and developing new business relationships. He has worked directly for or with the NHS for over 15 years delivering performance and efficiency improvements. SWG has offices in the
UK, Sweden, Canada, Australia, and a partner in the Middle East, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Addnode Group, one of Europe’s leading suppliers of software and services for design, construction, and the built environment.
Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust’s Ashford facility is a purpose-built 10-bedded ward located in Calmore specifically for adult men with a learning disability detained under the Mental Health Act.
people across Hampshire. The Trust benefits from using QFM, our CAFM software, to rapidly co-ordinate and control maintenance services and provide a single point of contact via its Facilities help desk. Our aim was to improve communications between remote staff and customers across a wide geographic area – the Trust operates 280 sites.
Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust needed a completely centralised system that could help with its maintenance systems, in order to ensure the ongoing provision of high-quality health services. The Trust’s existing system had been in place for more than 20 years, was no longer meeting its needs, and only managed maintenance requests by facilities staff on a region-by- region basis. The Trust chose SWG due to our software’s ability to support a busy helpdesk with a high volume of calls, and the system’s extensive reporting capabilities. The QFM app allows the Trust’s help desk to dispatch work orders to its engineers and contractors in real time. Field-based operatives can update the details of their job on their mobile phones too, from notification to completion. This has helped to reduce the administrative load on the helpdesk team, allowing the team to devote more attention and focus to current problems happening at the Trust’s various healthcare facilities.
Dynamic forms reporting tool The Trust also uses QFM’s dynamic forms reporting tool to help keep track of asset inspections, building surveys, health and safety checks, and customer satisfaction surveys. All of these services and features of the system demonstrate how the digitalisation of the healthcare world can lead to genuine improvements in the efficiency of the sector.
BIM software: what is it, and do you need it?
Building information modelling, commonly referred to as BIM, is a process that creates, and digitally manages, information for a built asset throughout its lifecycle – from initial design and construction, through to ongoing operation. Whether a building was newly constructed using BIM, or BIM data is retrospectively created for an
126 Health Estate Journal October 2024
existing building (via laser scanning and modelling to create accurate 3D models), CAFM software can offer significant benefits for leveraging this valuable data during the operational phase. BIM models help Estates and Facilities managers gain access to a wealth of information that wouldn’t otherwise be as accessible. Data about building fabric, assets, and components, enables FMs to easily see measurements, locations, access points, and information tags such as acceptable temperature range, room usage data, and more. This data can be used to create a comprehensive asset database within CAFM software. Once the asset database has been established, 2D and 3D BIM models can be viewed within the CAFM system, to show building detail such as asset location, history, components, warranties, manuals, and in-progress works – including repairs. BIM allows Facilities managers and their teams to access the relevant data that they need readily and with a high degree of detail. BIM data within CAFM supports maintenance work
by allowing engineers to view assets via an intuitive 3D viewing tool, ‘peeling back’ layers such as walls or suspended ceilings to see equipment that may be hidden in real life. This dramatically improves the knowledge needed to diagnose problems and resolve issues, reducing rectification times, and therefore minimising disruption to the day-to-day operation of busy healthcare environments.
Summary All the data required to make informed FM decisions already exists within your building; to make positive change, it must be accurately collected, analysed efficiently, and acted upon. By leveraging the power of CAFM software, there is
the potential to make managing the healthcare estate highly efficient, which can in turn boost the morale of NHS staff, and ensure the wellbeing of patients. Productivity increases, and role-based stress decreases, when FM personnel can create an environment that allows clinical staff to perform their work in a well-managed space. Clinical teams will be healthier, happier, and better equipped, to help patients and deliver the best quality of care.
Photo courtesy of Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust
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