MEDICAL GAS SYSTEMS
condition monitoring data, to decide when the next service or maintenance needs undertaking – in other words, predictive maintenance. The aim is to make the system operation both more ‘intelligent’ and more efficient, and to be able to predict what faults are likely to occur and what interventions might be needed.”
Different manufacturers’ plant James Forgan said: “A large acute hospital may well be running, say, three different air and vacuum plants from different manufacturers, and our alarm system will link in to all of them. We can also link Emanate to other manufacturers’ alarm monitoring and plant control systems.” Professor Luo said: “Our single ARM PCB can act in both control and communication mode, enabling, say, a Trust’s Estates manager, to have excellent visibility and control of the condition of a number of different medical gas plants, via Evolution, at multiple sites. Currently, we believe Emanate is unique as a medical gas system monitoring, trending, and analysis tool. Another breakthrough is the ability to use the same PCB to talk to other companies’ alarm panels. The PCB is incorporated in the latest Evolution system, and in Emanate. In the future, in building up our IOT offering, and what is known as the ‘Industrial 4.0 revolution’,” the Professor added, “it’s likely that the PCB ARM processor will play a significant part.”
At this point, Shaukat Ali, SHJ’s Installation and Commissioning manager, introduced himself, and began telling me about his team’s role. He said: “We undertake medical gas pipework or laboratory gas installations, and can also install any type of air, vacuum, and AGSS plant. We can also fit gas detection systems. We have a large installation
order book currently. For example, at one leading London hospital we are installing medical gas systems for both a new ICU and a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, while on the other side of the capital we are fitting a system in a new Endoscopy Unit, which we believe is a unique installation – in that we are providing two containerised plant rooms, one housing vacuum, and the other medical air plant. Effectively,” he explained, “we get large bespoke containers, and then install our medical gas plant inside them. The units are transported to the hospital, and if they need to be moved, the Trust’s Estates and Clinical teams can easily crane them into another location. These are permanent medical gas plant solutions for healthcare facilities, and tend to be a considerably cheaper option than building such a unit from scratch.”
Serving the NHS and the private sector
Giving a further flavour of some of SHJ’s current installation work, Shaukat Ali explained that his team is installing medical air, oxygen, and vacuum systems for a new A&E extension at ‘a prestigious Midlands hospital’, all the medical gases for a new Imaging Suite at another major London hospital, and providing new medical air, oxygen, and vacuum plant to two privately-owned clinics on Harley Street. He said: “Our installation engineers work in teams, and, depending on the job’s size, could be at a hospital for a year or more. Some of our most experienced installation engineers have been with us for 12-13 years. I joined as a Maintenance technician, aged 19, straight from college, after completing an HND in Electronic Engineering. I am now a Quality Controller on the national register of such personnel for medical gas.”
The final half-hour of our discussion
focused on SHJ’s K’nect customer portal. Stafford Scopes said: “We have constantly evolved the portal, and are always seeking to add new functionality. For instance, we are now allowing hospitals to add in even more compliance data on K’nect. We can include Permits to Work, record drawings, safety valve certificates, and all the other key information Trusts might need for compliance. All the data is encrypted, and thus only accessible to authorised users.”
Focus on core business activities Matthew Sealy explained: “Our engineers use PDAs which ‘connect’ to our Service Management System, which holds all the key data on contracts, jobs, and scheduling. K’nect is linked to the Service Management System, and can thus ‘talk’ to our secure IOT network and all our industrial devices. We are putting information from multiple sources onto K’nect to provide compliance, uptime, and reliability data.”
Stafford Scopes said: “Our Service Management System and K’nect are based around an SQL database, to which all the engineers’ data feeds in. Matthew, and Software engineer, Barry Alleway, then extract whatever information they need. In contrast, our competitors tend to just scan information and reports into their databases – a more manual and complicated process, which can fall behind. Our goal is for customers to be able to upload all their own compliance data, potentially from multiple sources.” While with the existing SHJ portal, on-site hospital engineers have had access to only limited information on plant performance, such as PPM reports and documentation, Stafford Scopes explained that with the new controllers, they will be able to view significantly more detailed data.
Pictured, left to right, at SHJ’s Chesham headquarters, are MD, Stafford Scopes, Financial controller, Michael Anthony, and Service manager, James Forgan.
A ‘constant health check’ Shaukat Ali said: “The AI technology enables us to keep a constant health check on medical gas plant. Until recently, the data that has come back has confirmed that the plant is running fine – via a number of green lights, and when it is temporarily ‘dead’ – via red ones. We can now, however, using the Empower intelligent plant controller and the Emanate monitoring and analysis system, give the plant a ‘health check’, which enables plant adjustments or remedial action before performance deteriorates. If, for example, the plant is getting too hot, our latest controllers will perhaps change the operation schedule by taking a compressor offline, simultaneously making us aware that there is a potential fault. The controllers will also identify characteristics such as pressures falling unexpectedly, or running faster rate than normal, and, if necessary, bring in
April 2020 Health Estate Journal 23
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