HFS Engineering and Environment team works with colleagues within the NHS and elsewhere to develop and promote high standards in these fields within healthcare. The guidance produced by HFS is an essential component in the safe and efficient operation of healthcare facilities.
In addition, HFS promotes sustainability in the provision of healthcare through tools such as the ISO 14001 compatible Environmental Management System Corporate Greencode, which provides a framework within which healthcare bodies can measure, manage and prioritise their environmental performance.
Amongst the Sustainability issues considered are Energy and Climate Change and Waste Management and Minimisation. The environmental impact of Scottish Hospitals is reported annually across a number of key performance indicators in the NHSScotland National Environment Report.
The Scottish Government provides a revolving fund for investment in energy efficiency projects and the process of evaluation of bids for funding is managed by HFS through its Scottish Engineering Technology Advisory Group (SETAG) and Central Energy Efficiency Fund (CEEF) Group.
HFS also works with colleagues to develop management tools such as the Statutory Compliance Audit and Risk Tool (SCART), which enables organisations to measure their level of compliance with a range of aspects of legal compliance and produce a simple prioritised high-level summary for consideration at board level.
The Engineering and Environment Team also provides HFS' input into the national Decontamination initiatives, aiming to transform the decontamination of reusable medical devices.
