Critical Control

Huron MD, Mike French at the Nurses Station

Control is the key word when running a hospital. One glitch could be fatal. Huron Consulting Group explains how FM in this environment runs like clockwork.

Hospitals are likened to small cities by Judy Mitchell, managing director, Huron Consulting Group, Global Healthcare Practice.

With an intricate web of facilities, each needing to be carefully linked to another to ensure the effective day to day running of the hospital, it is crucial that the FM operation is carefully planned, managed and executed.

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Huron Consulting Group was born in 2002 and has worked with 100 of the top U.S. teaching hospitals, 50 of the top U.S. integrated healthcare delivery systems and increasing numbers of hospitals and academic medical centres globally.

In addition to headquarters in Chicago, Huron has offices in Abu Dhabi, Amman, Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Detroit, Dubai, Houston, London, New York, Portland, Riyadh, Washington DC, and Singapore.

It provides solutions for the challenges facing hospitals, health systems, academic medical centres, health science universities and healthcare related institutions.

“Managing the facilities for all clinical services and especially the operating theatre is very specialised,” said Mitchell.

“Infection control is critical to achieving good medical outcomes and must be carefully considered in all aspects of facility design and particularly in the design of mechanical systems.

The clinical support services such as pharmacy, clinical laboratories and central sterilisation are frequently overlooked but they too must be carefully planned since each of these areas plays an important role in delivering high quality patient care.”

Hospital areas don’t work independently of each other. They are tightly integrated with a centralised process centre allowing for greater control.

Huron employs approximately 1560 full time employees including over 1100 full time consultants, and it is this placing of a highly trained staff of very specific people, that allow for a hospital to run effectively, according to Mike French, also, managing director, Huron Consulting Group, Global Healthcare Practice.

“FM staff have to be able to integrate with the other hospital or clinic staff and offer services 24 hours per day and effectively communicate with other disciplines across the building.

“Traditionally the hospital was responsible for all of the FM. Now a lot is outsourced. The FM staff have to be constantly on the ball – the AC in a hospital can’t go down under any circumstances. Similarly, hospitals can’t serve food late as many of the patients have specific dietary requirements,” he said.

Jacob Chacko, design maintenance co-ordinator at City Hospital in Dubai’s Healthcare City explained why a hospital always had to be alert, and have contingency plans in place, such as a standby generator.

“These four generators provide around 75% of the hospitals electricity and are critical for when the main electricity supply in the hospital fails.
Everything in the hospital relies on electricity, and with life saving equipment, you simply can’t afford for the power to fail,” he said.