WATER


practical way to reduce risks while also improving accessibility and user confidence, allowing healthcare providers to specify touch-free hydration across a wide variety of spaces, from clinical wards and staff rooms to high-traffic public waiting areas, bolstering the health, safety, and resilience of facilities. Fewer shared touchpoints ease cleaning demands, accelerate turnaround in public spaces, and reduce wear on mechanical parts. For facilities managers, a simple specification change, therefore, can deliver measurable gains in hygiene, safety, accessibility, and sustainability.


Infection prevention and operational resilience Healthcare facilities depend on extensive and complex plumbing networks, delivering water to many hundreds of outlets every day – from patient rooms and treatment areas to staff kitchens and public facilities. If not properly managed, these


networks can quickly become reservoirs for harmful microorganisms. Public Health England guidance makes clear that proactive maintenance, strict temperature control, and point-of-use protection are all essential to reducing risks in healthcare water supplies.


Water safety as a regulatory necessity For infection prevention leads, safe water is not optional. It is both a regulatory requirement and a reputational necessity. Pathogens like Legionella, the bacterium responsible for severe pneumonia, can thrive in hospital water systems if conditions allow. Common infrastructure challenges only amplify these risks: dead-leg pipework where water stagnates, rarely used outlets, warm storage tanks that encourage bacterial growth, old or poorly maintained filters, and scale-damaged components that compromise hygiene.


Beyond monitoring: engineered safeguards A recent review reinforces this point, highlighting that monitoring and conventional disinfection alone are not enough to ensure safe drinking water, since opportunistic pathogens, including Legionella, can persist within plumbing systems – even when water has been treated. Effective management, therefore,


requires engineered safeguards that neutralise or remove pathogens at the point of use. Modern drinking water systems should use a multi-layered approach – combining filtration, UV-C LED disinfection, antimicrobial additives, and touch-free operation – to neutralise or remove pathogens before water ever reaches the user.


IFHE DIGEST 2026


Built-in defence against bacterial growth Alongside active measures such as UV-C and filtration, treating components in the dispense pathway with antimicrobial additives provides passive, continuous protection between cleaning protocols. By inhibiting bacterial growth and spread on high-contact areas such as touchpads and throughout the water path, additives help reduce contamination risks without additional intervention. Although not a substitute for routine cleaning, antimicrobial materials complement disinfection by narrowing the window for (re)growth and adding resilience to heavily used systems.


Drinking water systems and sustainability The NHS was the first healthcare system in the world to enshrine net-zero ambitions in legislation, with a target of climate neutrality by 2040 for direct emissions and 2045 for its wider footprint. As healthcare systems account for around four per cent of total global carbon emissions, the scale of the challenge is significant: estates, supply chains, staff travel, and models of care are all under scrutiny. Hydration provision is part of this


picture. Trusts such as South Tees are already embedding water and nutrition into sustainability goals, explicitly linking drinking water and nutrition with Green Plan targets by placing emphasis on carbon reduction, accessibility, and staff and patient wellbeing. This aligns with the NHS Net Zero Supplier Roadmap (2021), which requires all suppliers to demonstrate progress towards net-zero targets as part of procurement. Modernising hydration infrastructure


offers a tangible way for trusts to reduce their footprint while delivering wider benefits across infection prevention, staff welfare, and operational efficiency. And, fortunately, the sustainability advantages of modern hydration technology are measurable: l Reducing single-use plastics by replacing bottled water with mains-fed, filtered systems.


l Lowering energy use by consolidating multiple appliances (kettles, urns, coolers) into integrated, energy- efficient units.


l Cutting logistics emissions by eliminating bottled water deliveries and packaging waste, while simplifying operations through a single supplier model.


For facilities managers and estates teams, specifying hydration systems that are safe, accessible, and sustainable offers a triple- win: improved patient and staff wellbeing, reduced environmental impacts, and enhanced operational efficiency – all in a single specification.


Towards purer, safer, and more sustainable drinking water in modern healthcare facilities In modern healthcare, hydration is a frontline strategic enabler of patient recovery, staff performance, and infection prevention. Multi-barrier systems, touch- free designs, antimicrobial additives, and sustainable systems all help to deliver on these priorities. For healthcare decision- makers, the challenge now is to integrate these solutions across teams:


For facilities managers l Specify touch-free systems and multi-barrier protection for infection control.


l Implement a regular, planned maintenance regime with documented servicing.


l Monitor usage data to identify demand patterns and anticipate issues.


For infection prevention leads l Integrate touch-free dispensing in high- risk and high-traffic areas.


l Ensure antimicrobial-treated surfaces are built into water paths.


l Align water systems with water safety plans.


For hospital designers l Plan for space, pipework, and power requirements early in the design process.


l Design for accessibility, ensuring systems can be used by wheelchair users and patients with limited dexterity.


l Incorporate sustainability targets into specifications from the outset.


Ultimately, the most resilient healthcare estates will be those that treat hydration as integral to safety, efficiency, and sustainability. By specifying and integrating safe, accessible, and sustainable hydration systems, trusts can improve patient outcomes, support staff wellbeing, and meet ESG commitments in ways that are practical, measurable, and long-lasting.


IFHE 63


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104