FACILITIES/PLANT MANAGEMENT
engineers and facilities managers. IHEEM
Authorised Engineers can now also use
dedicated and copyrighted logos; will
receive individual photo ID cards with
their membership number and their
registration expiry date on an IHEEM
lanyard; and individual listing in the
IHEEM’s online directory as well as in the
IHEEM handbook.
In the future, IHEEM will also be looking
at ways to support more engineers
to reach AE skills and experience and
to create the right opportunities for
members to develop and grow into these
roles. For example, it has published career
maps on its website. Sellars explains:
“We’ve identi ed over 300 roles to
support our members in the healthcare
sector, and our career map identi es
the quali cations, the pay grades, and
typical job descriptions. And IHEEM has
now partnered with a number of training
providers this year to o er over 100
targeted training courses to our members
in healthcare to support the development
of their careers.”
CHANGES
Following a review, IHEEM Executive
Council rati ed the new Terms
of Reference and Management
Arrangements 2021. The Institute then
held a one-day online webinar to underline
the important role that AEs play in the
safe, e cient and compliant running of
healthcare facility systems.
Sellars went on to outline the ve
key drivers that highlighted the need
to update the terms of reference for
the Institute’s technical platforms and
boards of registration (AE) management
arrangements:
1. To meet the licencing requirements set
out by the Engineering Council UK in
its review, and the Institute’s corporate
responsibilities to the Charities
Committee and all IHEEM members
2. To protect IHEEM from potential
litigation and reputational damage
3. To ensure transparency, fairness and
“IHEEM contributed to a national
investigation into the supply of oxygen
during the COVID-19 pandemic”
Pete Sellars
inclusiveness, along
with consistency
across all aspects of
TPs and registration
boards in terms
of structure, core
competencies and levels
of activity to support and
update members
4. To create con dence across the
system that all IHEEM activity is
underpinned by robust governance and
assurance, and by appropriate codes of
conduct
5. To support the ve-year business
plan commitment to modernise
all elements of the Institute,
ensuring that it is t for
purpose to respond to
new opportunities and
challenges.
Chair of the working
group and IHEEM
president Paul Fenton
MBE said in the August
edition of Health Estates
Journal: “I believe that
we have carefully and
professionally articulated
the requirements of the
revised proposed terms of
reference to re ect the needs
of the technical platforms,
the boards of registration for authorising
engineers, and the IHEEM executive
council, that the new terms of reference
address the original concerns expressed
back in 2019, and that the ‘task and nish’
working group has successfully delivered
its objectives.”
IHEEM has aligned its processes to
support national guidance such as health
technical memoranda (HTM), which
state that the authorised engineers’ role
is to act as independent professional
advisors to the healthcare
organisation, and that
these individuals should
be appointed by that
organisation with a brief
to provide services in
accordance with the relevant
HTM for whichever area they
are working in. They will act as
assessors and make recommendations
for the appointment of ‘authorised
persons’, monitor the performance of
service, and provide an annual audit to the
‘designated person’.
Sellars adds that due process for
applications includes a panel
interview with two IHEEM
members relevant to that
technical discipline,
and an independent
professional where the
applicant’s experience
and knowledge is
reviewed and assessed
for appropriateness.
However, NHS Trusts must
also have their own strong
governance protocols
in place to ensure they
are making the right
appointments.
OUTREACH
In October 2020, IHEEM announced it
would be the IET Education Theme Partner
for the 2021/22 season of the Faraday
Challenge. Based on a real-world problem,
the challenge reaches out to schools to
develop young people’s problem solving
and communication skills. In addition,
IHEEM STEM ambassador Monira Kaouech
attended a number of ‘People Like Me’
workshops in schools in the northeast
to give young students a avour of a
healthcare engineering career.
Winter 2021 www.operationsengineer.org.uk 79
/www.operationsengineer.org.uk