EMERGENCY HOSPITALS
‘Can do’ spirit from London Nightingale FM team
Craig Smith, FIH, MRIPH, head of Corporate Affairs at ISS, and National Chair of the Hospital Caterers Association, explains how ISS Healthcare addressed the challenge of being invited to provide the overall soft FM lead at the new NHS Nightingale Hospital London in the capital’s Docklands.
Some 80 recruits were required for the starting phase of 500 beds.
The global COVID-19 pandemic demanded that conventional thinking be suspended. The sight of China building a new 25,000 m2 (269,000 ft2
) hospital in Wuhan in just six
days stunned the world, but soon others were having to consider similar measures. In the UK, a team of senior clinicians started to consider how best they would cope when the pandemic reached its
height in London. From the time the general concept for the NHS Nightingale Hospital London was first formulated, to having a 4,000 bedded temporary hospital ready for operation, took less than six weeks, but this depended on some incredible teamwork, with the NHS working in perfect partnership with the military and selected contractors. ISS Healthcare was contacted by NHS England and asked to lead the soft services FM offer. Our managing director, Chris Ash, didn’t think twice, but rather he immediately accepted the challenge, and within hours the mobilisation team swung into action. Senior team members from both ISS’s commercial and operational businesses led from the front and on the ground at east London’s ExCeL conference centre.
Precision planning
ISS Healthcare MD, Chris Ash: “Our teams have worked around the clock seven days a week to make this happen.”
The initial task was to take a completely blank piece of paper and start to work up realistic procedures that would enable the whole place to function effectively. This took everyone back to basics – such as ‘Where to place the access points?’; ‘How to manage ‘clean and dirty’ segregation, staff numbers, and timing?’; ‘What equipment is essential?’; Medical gas installation and logistics, and the implementation and timing of the infection
control procedures. The list kept growing. Endless meetings took place, with individuals working night and day, but within an extraordinarily short period of time, an effective plan emerged, with everyone adopting a ‘We can do it’ attitude.
Overall soft FM lead role ISS Healthcare was invited to provide the overall soft FM lead, delivering professional healthcare cleaning, portering, linen, waste management, pest control, and helpdesk services. While the incumbent caterer at ExCeL, Compass, was to provide the food, we would deliver it to the patients. Both ISS and Compass dietitians worked closely together to agree the basic menu offering.
While the physical space was being prepared, the ISS team started the herculean task of preparing rosters and work schedules, and identifying the equipment that would be required – everything from microfibre cloths to large-scale floor cleaners. Some 80 recruits were required for the starting phase of 500 beds, increasing to an estimated 450 staff when the full 4,000 beds are utilised; all these recruits had to be fully trained and equipped before being allowed to start their work.
May 2020 Health Estate Journal 21
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