News

Harvey Morris writes:

ISS Facility Services has been appointed to deliver cleaning, portering, waste management and other soft FM services at the newly created coronavirus treatment facility.

The Nightingale hospital, based at the ExCel conference centre in London's Docklands, will initially provide up to 500 beds equipped with ventilators and oxygen. The capacity will then continue to increase, potentially up to 4,000 beds.

A specialists ISS Training Academy has also been created onboard the Sunborn Yacht Hotel, adjacent to the exhibition centre, where all FM staff will receive the appropriate training before entering the new hospital.

Matthew Brabin, ISS CEO commented: "We're honoured to help our nation in these extraordinary times and I am doubly proud of our great people who have made this possible".

A huge well done to all of the #GreatPeople for making this happen and helping to create solutions for Covid-19.

Please continue to look after yourselves, colleagues, families and friends.

Angie Dean MICW up in the Lakes District writes:

I have been doing some shopping for some of my neighbours who have underlying health problems and over 70. I have also signed up for the Red Cross and the Support Cumbria Volunteers. So far I have delivered PPE from Whitehaven to a distribution point for a group of carers on the front line in Millom.

Rob Hopkin MICW shared what Birmingham Centre for Rail Research & Education and Birmingham University are developing:

A disposable plastic 'pop-up tent' that creates a protective barrier between patients and healthcare professionals could be the latest line of defence for frontline NHS workers thanks to a new product developed by a team from the UK.

Designed by experts at the University of Birmingham, the Disposable Resuscitation, Intubation and Nebulisation Kit Shield – or DRs INK Shield - is a compact device designed to cover the patient's head, neck and shoulder area while treatments for COVID-19 are administered.

The transparent plastic shield, which features self-closing access points, protects medical staff from airborne droplets that may put them at risk of contracting the virus while allowing them line-of-sight access to the patients airways to perform life-saving procedures such as inserting or removing breathing tubes.

Barrier products like these already exist, however current designs are often hard walled boxes which are not only difficult to store in large numbers, but difficult to manoeuvre in emergency situations. The DRs INK Shield is around five times lighter and one third of the cost of currently available solutions.

Its pop-up design means it can be assembled in seconds as well as easy to store prior to use while the disposable material means that it can be disposed of along with other clinical waste.

The project, which has rapidly moved from conception through product development to launch and taking orders in less than a week, has brought together the expertise of staff from the University's College of Medical and Dental Sciences and College of Engineering and Physical Sciences.

Design lead Matthew Campbell-Hill from the Institute of Clinical Sciences said: "We're told that COVID-19 is primarily spread through respiratory secretions which transmit the virus via the fine spray of droplets released when infected people talk, cough, sneeze or even yawn.

"With much of the treatment for the virus focused around the airways, it is imperative that healthcare workers are protected from potential contamination while still being able to deliver the vital treatments that will save people's lives.

"Our shield offers an additional form of PPE that can be rapidly assembled during emergency situations adding an extra layer of protection for frontline staff. Staff who have used it report increased confidence in their personal safety, as well as the ease of use and lightness. While this design has the potential to be a vital tool during the current pandemic, we envisage its use in a range of care settings beyond hospitals including ambulances, care homes and public areas."

Dr Richard Williams, Research Fellow in the Healthcare Technologies Institute added: "Taking the time to fully understand the clinical problem and then move at speed was essential. Even in this national emergency, some basic considerations of placing a product into service still apply. We drew upon our key contacts and worked remotely to provide an appropriate solution in a timely manner with the ability scale."

The next stage of the project will see the team deploy the solution as quickly as possible to the front-line of COVID-19 care. More information about the DRs INK Shield can be found on the Shield Aerosol website.

Michael Powell of the PA Consulting Group has shared this:

PA Consulting continues to lead the coordination of efforts for ventilators and are working on their design and manufacture, too.

PA Consulting is coordinating the effort between government and the private sector to produce ventilators, one of the many ways we're responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. We're proud to say we're also collaborating with other medical device development companies from Cambridge, UK to rapidly develop and manufacture ventilators. You can read more about the effort in this GOV.UK news story and in our joint press release.

Catherine Macleod from element has shared what they are doing:

London, UK - April 2, 2020 - Element Materials Technology (Element) is lending its support to the national drive to increase ventilator production in response to the NHS' urgent demand to treat coronavirus patients in the UK.

Element has developed a testing regime to cover the electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and basic safety requirements for a Rapidly Manufactured Ventilator System (RMVS) prototype being developed by a number of manufacturers and consortia. Before new devices can be categorized as ‘safe' for use in medical working environments and brought to market, it is necessary to determine if a device can perform safely and provide its essential performance without causing harm and/or electromagnetic disturbances in its appropriate operating environment. This is typically achieved by testing to applicable medical safety standards.

Safety test plans drawn up by Element's Advisory Services team based in Malvern are being used to perform the testing from its product qualification testing (PQT) laboratory in Hitchin. Element also provided EMC test plans to manufacturers who will carry out the initial phase of testing, while phase two testing will be carried out by Element from a number of its PQT facilities.

Mark Heaven, Divisional Director Global Aerospace PQT at Element said: "We are delighted to be able to offer our expertise, free of charge, to support the national effort to fight COVID-19, and are already in discussions with other medical device manufacturers to carry out EMC and safety testing on their RMVS prototypes this week. Element hopes to continue to offer our integral safety conformity services throughout this period of high demand for ventilators."

Element Hitchin is one of our safety testing centres of excellence, with UKAS accreditation to BS EN ISO/IEC 17025:2017. Our areas of technical expertise at Element Hitchin include Medical Testing & Regulatory Affairs, Safety Testing and Certifications & Approvals. We work with manufacturers of electrical medical devices; are approved to ISO 9001:2015, and typically provide medical regulatory testing and test reports to European EN 60601 series of standards and American pre-market authorizations the 510(k) route, which are the core standards/procedures for medical product verification.

MICW Clare Tunnicliffe from Atos has become one of Boris's 22000 clinical people! She writes: "My first degree is in pharmacy but I stopped being a pharmacist a couple of years ago because I wasn't working in a clinical environment. Pharmacists were asked to rejoin the register as part of the call-up and just over 3000 have. I am currently volunteering within my local community pharmacy in evenings and weekends to help with the increased demand. I am still working full time in my normal paid work supporting collaborative development but it's great to be able to support my community and feel I am making a bit of a difference."

Last week, The Kier Highways team successfully mobilised, and started working on, the Birmingham Highways Ltd contract. The team has donated 40,000 disposable gloves to Birmingham City Council to provide care teams across the City with vital, much-needed PPE during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We are delight to report that Sellafield Ltd, one of the Institute's Executive Network members, have achieved certification to ISO 44001 (5th February) for their key collaborative business relationships within their supply chain.

ICW was pleased to support their development and we congratulate all those involved in the certification process.

The Individual Members Elections for the ICW Advisory Council are underway and you should have received the Ballot paper in the post. If you have not received a ballot paper and think you are eligible, please contact Alan Maund at the ICW office on 0203 051 1077.

The following ICW members are the candidates for the eight individual council seats:-

Stephen Abrahams, Ben Cross, Andrew Hopper, Louise Jones, Louise McMahon, Edward Moore, Gail Stephenson, Stephen Blakey, Odilon Serrano, John Doyle, Richard Venerus, Robert Bryce, Adrian Miller, Christopher Richardson, Lois Love, Paul Bibby, Steven Fulcher, Richard Holm, Tim Mowat, Jo Potter, Richard Smith, Barry Leighton, Steven Dolan, Trevor Gore, Bryn Richards, David Hitchin and Frank Lee.

Remember to complete your ballot paper and return it in the enclosed addressed envelope as soon as possible - voting closes on Friday March 6th, 2020 at 5pm.

Any ballot papers receive after the 6th will not be counted.

The Corporate Elections for the ICW Advisory Council are underway and you should have received the Ballot paper in the post. If you have not received a ballot paper and think you are eligible, please contact Alan Maund at the ICW office on 0203 051 1077.

The following companies are Corporate candidates for the eight corporate council seats:-

Skanska UK, BAM Nuttall Ltd, Morgan Sindall Construction, Gattaca PLC, Babcock International Group, Mott MacDonald, Costain, Morgan Sindall Infrastructure, Network Rail, NATS, Keir Highways, Indra, Leidos, Amey Defence Services Ltd, QinetiQ Ltd, EMCOR, Lloyds Register LRQA, Leonardo MW Ltd and BSi.

Remember to complete your ballot paper and return it in the enclosed addressed envelope as soon as possible - voting closes on Friday March 6th, 2020 at 5pm.

Any ballot papers receive after the 6th will not be counted.