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Facilities Management
Lifeblood of the NHS
The NHS depends on serviceable buildings in which it can function. This requires a wide range of skills within the estates department, which provides the hard FM, ensuring the utilities and the fabric of the property are fit for purpose. If you look inside that building you will see a hive of activity which involves so much more than just the clinical staff. Without the porter taking the patient to theatre the surgeon cannot carry out his important work. Before the nurses have prepared the theatre for surgery they need to be assured that the area is not just clean but clinically clean; something that depends on the healthcare cleaner, part of the soft FM team, and so the process continues.
Simply put, without these critically important teams, and the supporting industries, the NHS would grind to a halt within hours. That being said, we must also recognise that we are living in difficult times, particularly in the public sector, where every pound spent is coming under increased scrutiny. It is the responsibility of all of us working in, or alongside, the NHS, to provide the highest standard of FM support services that can be afforded within challenging budgets.
We have moved a long way forward over the past 10 years in terms of recognising the importance of investing in people, estate and standards and the problems in the economy should not be used as an excuse to move backwards, particularly in the area of reducing healthcare acquired infections and offering choice at the point of delivery.
The NHS always needs to adopt and embrace new ideas and up to date thinking and the FM market is constantly coming up with innovative solutions. Ozone cleaning and single portion catering are just two examples of soft FM ideas that are making a positive impact on the patient stay experience, while the lessons learned from the private finance initiative are now being adopted into conventional contracts.
This supplement showcases up to date thinking and should be a valuable resource to every reader and can be downloaded for free when you try HSJ today.
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