Trust's estates and facilities team is 'Team of the Year'

Dealing with 29,113 helpdesk calls, handling 14.6 million pieces of laundry, and maintaining 73.8 hectares of land last year are just some of the reasons why Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust's Estates and Facilities team is an award-winner.

The team beat fierce competition in October 2018 to win the 2018 Institute of Healthcare Engineering and Estate Management (IHEEM) Award for Estates Team of the Year.

The annual IHEEM conference took place in Manchester with an awards ceremony hosted by footballer Jan Mølby.

The estates and facilities team have been behind several major projects, including moving inpatients from the Trauma Unit to the main John Radcliffe building, improving and updating switchgear at the Churchill Hospital, and replacing the air handling units at the Horton.

There have also been several environmental initiatives, including the implementation of reusable coffee cups and water bottles, which saves approximately 16,000 bags of single-use cups going to waste.  The team processed 2208 tonnes of recycling last year, which meant that no waste went to landfill and the Trust saved approximately 591,229kg of CO2 and 2502 trees.

This was in addition to the day-to-day maintenance across the Trust sites - everything from unblocking drains to planting trees.

Claire Hennessy, Head of Operational Estates and Facilities at the Trust, said: "I am so pleased and proud. This is superb recognition for our fantastic teams in Oxford and Banbury who work so hard to keep our hospitals and services going.

"Often, the projects we work on require very long days and sometimes very unsociable hours - last winter, members of our team were working around the clock to sweep, grit, and clear snow, as well as hiring 4x4 vehicles to take clinical staff to and from work. Their work really meant that the hospitals could keep going - nothing was too big or too small for them.

"IHEEM's annual Healthcare Estates Conference and Awards is unique, as it's the largest gathering of NHS engineers and estates and facilities managers, and the exchange of ideas and experiences is always very rewarding. Although, I don't doubt that, for some, the real highlight may have been the selfies and long conversation with Jan before dinner!"

Mark Neal, Director of Estates and Facilities at the Trust, said: "The Trust estate is extremely challenging to maintain  and is one of the most complex facilities in the NHS. Our estates team are on hand 24/7, and their commitment to delivering the best service that they can has been rewarded with national recognition."

Pictured: Operational Estates and Facilities staff collecting their Estates and Facilities Team of the Year Award from Jan Mølby at the IHEEM Healthcare Estates Awards dinner.