OPERATING THEATRES AND CRITICAL CARE
multifaceted skillsets that each individual brings are invaluable to AHS. We are armed with an exceptional team of sales, electrical infrastructure, project management, installation, and field service professionals – all with high-level expertise within the medical and healthcare arena. The team presents unrivalled expertise with, and experience from, some of the UK’s biggest operating theatre and critical care turnkey projects completed to date. Based out of a facility in Risby, between Bury St Edmunds and Newmarket, AHS says it has ensured that it can meet the ever-increasing need for immediate response and rapid project turnaround by establishing a nationwide engineering network, which is able to carry out all levels of build, installation, and service works.
Consult and deliver
The terms ‘integrated’, ‘solution-based’, and ‘turnkey’, have fast become ‘buzzwords’ for many industries, but within the medical arena, Nick Jackson and Russell Skea believe they embody the way the sector is increasingly moving. Nick Jackson explained: “Historically, everything was approached independently and in total isolation. Equipment supply rarely considered the impact on the other mechanics or electrical infrastructure around it. Over the years there has been a growing emphasis on operating efficiencies, and the commercial restraints on the healthcare sector are always likely to play a part in all strategies. In addition, consideration of patient outcome, flow, and departmental uptime, are all of growing importance. To address this head on, it makes logical sense to have one central point, and a trusted partner that understands all aspects of establishing medical infrastructures.
“AHS is a one of only a few businesses able to offer a truly vendor-neutral and fully consultative approach,” he continued. “Our 25 years of being immersed in the medical sphere means we fully understand the different competences and needs of all personnel – from clinical professionals, and estates and projects teams, through to contractors and architects, who may have experience in the healthcare market, but may not have necessarily delivered a complex and integrated theatre previously.
Equipment supply included “Our design and build offering not only includes all the key supply elements, but also the provision and integration of all equipment required – from lighting and pendants to theatre control panels and the integration of all mechanical and electrical infrastructure. In having a central point, communication channels are clearer, there is less margin for error, and improved
112 Health Estate Journal October 2018
One of the ‘unique selling points’ of the Cleanroom Concepts laminar flow canopy is its round shape – giving the ability to position the patient in any area of the sterile field.
budget control, while clients are able to manage their efficiencies much better, and projects can be delivered more quickly. “One of my key career highlights, and an excellent demonstration of a fully inclusive project solution offering, was the conversion of a storeroom into a fully compliant orthopaedic theatre in just 18 weeks. Having full control of the entire project meant that we were able to establish realistic timescales, with six weeks on design and 12 weeks on site. Bringing together equipment suppliers, electrical infrastructure, M&E, architectural design, and construction contractors, the project was completed on time and within budget.”
Multi-million pound projects Russell Skea reminisced about some of the other ‘multi-million pound’ projects he and Nick Jackson have been involved in. Most notable, they say, is their experience in delivering hybrid OR theatres. They believe the intricacies of such projects are ‘relatively unknown to most’. Russell Skea explained: “The design implications for hybrid OR theatres are incredibly complex – with multiple facets to consider – from the weight of equipment, through to configuration, potential equipment collision, patient positioning, and layout.” Clearly passionate about their work, Nick Jackson, Russell Skea, and the rest of the AHS team, are enthusiastic about bringing what they say is their ‘forward-thinking approach to project management’ to market. Focusing on ‘minimising risk, maximising value, and controlling costs at all stages to deliver finished projects on time and on budget’, the team says it will effectively manage projects ‘by proactively engaging with all stakeholders’.
Taking full control
Among the Trumpf Medical products offered by AHS will be Trumpf’s iLED and TruLight LED operating theatre lights, its TruPort pendants, and 7000 series operating tables.
Nick Jackson said: “In taking full control of the project we are able to understand exactly what each stakeholder wants. Requirements are likely to differ; for example a contractor’s needs will be totally different to a surgeon’s. Quite often, surgeons and other key clinical staff are not consulted, or, if they are, not early enough in the project. We like to ensure that we meet with surgeons and senior managers on projects so that we can advise them on what we consider to be the ideal design layout before the work is started. This helps to establish strong working partnerships, and to eliminate the need for any possible late changes and errors.”
AHS says it wants its clients to be involved ‘from initial concept and design,
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