Eco for Bendigo

BENDIGO HOSPITAL PROJECTSpecial lift-out, Winter 2016

DAYLIGHT SAVINGS: Bendigo Health chairman Bob Cameron inspects the 770 solar panel fit-out, already installed on the new hospital’s roof.

The Bendigo Hospital Project is striking a future-friendly chord.

EXEMPLAR HEALTH is a ‘gold’ sponsor of the Bendigo Business Council (BBC), and the function was part of the BBC’s membership event series that has been designed to provide networking opportunities to our region’s business leaders.

The event’s highlight was a presentation by Exemplar Health chief executive, Michele Morrison, who spoke of the important project milestones accomplished to date, while explaining some of the highlights yet to come.

According to Ms Morrison the hospital is on track to open in January 2017, and the project’s achievements have been many.

“It’s been a busy and exciting time at the Bendigo Hospital Project, but it’s events like this that make it possible to pause and look back at the hard work and the great work that’s been undertaken.”

She said the early milestones have included the establishment of a 128-bed

accommodation hotel and childcare centre on the Lucan Street hospital grounds.

“The Schaller Studio and Jenny’s Early Learning Centre are a thriving part of the Bendigo Hospital Project story; they both opened in 2014 and are important milestones for the project.

“But many significant milestones are yet to come, prior to the opening,” she said.

“In the next few months we’ll see Spotless open our hospital kitchen to Bendigo Health; we’ll experience the new hospital’s ‘main street’ internal hub fully unveiled and we’ll be announcing the project’s new retail operators – that will bring a vibrancy and colour to the new facility.”

Attending on the night was BBC chief executive, Leah Sertori, along with BBC members. Guests also included representatives from Bendigo Health and the Bendigo Hospital Project including Lendlease and Spotless.

The Bendigo Hospital Project consortium, Exemplar Health, hosted a ‘Business after Five’ event at The Schaller Studio this month.

On track ‘after five’

THE new Bendigo Hospital will reduce energy consumption and feature renewable energy sources.

This is because of a conscious decision by Bendigo Health, the Victorian Government and Exemplar Health to provide a high level of green credentials in its design.

According to Bendigo Health chief executive, John Mulder, healthcare facilities around the world are taking a more eco-efficient approach and he believes it’s high time to incorporate renewable solutions into every aspect of the new hospital.

“Sustainability supports all facets of our organisation, benefiting the patients, the staff, the community and the planet,” he said.

According to Bendigo Health chairman Bob Cameron, the new hospital’s roof is now home to a 200-kilowatt solar array made up of 770 panels. He said it’s an impressive example of how the project is creating economic benefit for the future.

“This will be a world-class healthcare facility with demanding requirements, and the Bendigo Hospital Project is leading the market through its use of clean, renewable power.

“It’s all about sustainable solutions when considering how to reduce electricity costs, and by generating solar power, the hospital can control its energy costs and insulate itself from increasing utility rates,” he added.

The new hospital’s 200-kilowatt solar presence is estimated to generate 285,000 of kilowatt-hours each year; clean energy that

brings an annual reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of approximately 300,000 kilograms of CO2.

Mr Mulder also explained that Bendigo Health believes strongly in the importance of showing leadership in environmental sustainability.

“We encourage a green workplace through programs that promote energy-efficiency, recycling and waste minimisation and the Bendigo Hospital Project is an example of this commitment,” he added.

THE GREEN THEMES DON’T STOP THERE:

■ Efficient LED lighting on timers and movement sensors

■ Bicycle racks to encourage alternative transportation and reduced dependence on vehicles

■ Rainwater harvesting in a drought-prone region, with 95 per cent of the roof area accommodating two 100-kilolitre tanks.

■ Indigenous and drought-tolerant landscaping incorporated to reduce watering

■ Hybrid heat rejection units to deliver substantial savings on water, energy and maintenance.

■ A food dehydrator that turns food waste into a powder that’s used on the hospital’s gardens as fertiliser.

■ Paints and coatings, adhesives and sealants, carpets and composite wood products have been specified to achieve the respective Green Star low emission standard criteria.

We encourage a green workplace

BENDIGO HOSPITAL PROJECT

New stage for theatresFor staff at Bendigo Health, the new Bendigo Hospital will present an opportunity to enter into a new phase in their careers as health professionals.

SMART DESIGN: Bendigo Health’s Sasha Vedelsby, Manny Cao, Dianne Craig and Bob Cameron (chairman) tour the new theatre complex.

STAFF will be presented with a new way of working, a more advanced way of supporting care for patients, and they’ll be using new innovations in technology to assist their day-to-day work.

The 11 new operating theatres featured in the new hospital design are an ideal example of how new technologies will bring about positive change in local healthcare delivery. They will incorporate smart operating room technology and layouts to accommodate the multiple needs of thoracic, general and specialist surgery, along with cardiology interventions.

The suite of operating theatres includes advanced anaesthetic machines, a patient-flow management system and a fully integrated patient monitoring system that will allow doctors and nurses to see the vital signs of patients from remote areas, a three-stage recovery area and an improved infection control system.

Recently Bendigo Health’s interventional suite senior manager Sasha Vedelsby joined Bendigo Health chairman Bob Cameron and Bendigo Health’s Manny Cao and Dianne Craig to tour the near-complete operating theatre complex at the Bendigo Hospital Project.

“During the past 10 years we’ve experienced high demand for our healthcare services – for instance the number of elective and emergency surgeries at Bendigo Health has increased from 8000 patients per year to 12,000,” Ms Vedelsby said.

“We are now working at capacity in our current building, and looking forward to moving across to use the latest technology and design,” Ms Vedelsby added.

Bendigo Health chairman Bob Cameron said the new operating theatres will be world-class, enabling most surgeries to be performed locally.

“The new features incorporated into the design will improve patient care and support the needs of surgeons and clinical staff – and they’ll reduce waiting times and streamline hospital services,” Mr Cameron said.

“Other features such as the dedicated patient elevator that directly accesses operating theatres, the intensive care unit, maternity and the emergency department, will also result in improved flow and treatment for patients.

“I applaud Bendigo Health’s clinical and

support staff, because they’ve managed to contribute to the development of the hospital project, through consultation, while at the same time treating record numbers of patients in the existing hospital,” Mr Cameron concluded.

TO ease the load of some of the more labour-intensive, mundane tasks around the new Bendigo Hospital, Spotless is getting robot savvy. The facilities management company is deploying Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) ideally designed for commercial applications such as hospital settings.

A fleet of AGVs will be able to provide the hospital with a safe 24-hour shift operation – using dedicated service lifts and pathways throughout the building. And they will be on a constant ‘pick-up and deliver’ mission, ensuring staff members focus on their specialist tasks without the need for heavy lifting or carrying goods.

BACK OF HOUSE: Guided robots will operate throughout the new hospital doing the mundane, heavy-duty tasks.

With the growing demand on our healthcare services, technology continues to offer smart solutions.

… they will be on a constant ‘pick-up and

deliver’ missionKey dispatches include linen (to laundry

and wards), sterile supplies (to surgery theatres etc) and waste (from wards and other locations to the recycling and rubbish collection areas).

These mobile robots will also be invaluable in the new hospital kitchen dispatching food from kitchen to wards, and delivering the return of empty trays to kitchen.

Now, these guided vehicles will certainly not be ‘front of house’, instead they will be very much working behind the scenes, as the Bendigo Hospital Project continues to harness the use of technology to enable Bendigo Health to bring you quality healthcare.

Robots on mission

… new features incorporated into the design

will improve patient care.

WHERE WILL THE ENTRANCE TO THE NEW HOSPITAL BE?

The front entrance for the new Bendigo Hospital will be on Mercy Street, with a secondary entrance and an emergency department entrance fronting onto Drought Street. In mid-2018, the hospital will open visitor access through an air-bridge above Arnold Street, and by that date, you will be able to enter the hospital by walking across the bridge from a multi-deck carpark.

WHAT SERVICES WILL BE AT THE NEW HOSPITAL?

All services currently provided at Bendigo Health will be provided in the new hospital with expanded capacity to meet our future needs. For instance, psychiatric inpatient services will be combined in the new hospital and there will be a regional cancer centre for oncology and radiotherapy services.

WILL THE NEW INTENSIVE CARE UNIT BE LOCATED CLOSE TO THE HELIPAD?

Yes, the new intensive care unit (ICU) and the helipad are designed to be close to each other. Once landed, transported critical care patients along with Bendigo Health professionals will use an

air-bridge to access the new hospital, and ICU. The air-bridge is designed with a dedicated level for public use – and one for clinical use, including rapid-response helicopter transfers. (The helipad and air-bridge are both part of stage-two of the project, to be completed in mid-2018)

WHERE WILL REHABILITATION SERVICES BE LOCATED?

Rehabilitation services will be in a number of different locations when the Bendigo Hospital Project is completed. Inpatient rehabilitation services, that are currently located at the Anne Caudle campus, will relocate to the new facility. However, outpatient rehabilitation will remain at Bendigo Health’s John Lindell rehabilitation unit at this stage.

HOW DO I CONTACT THE PROJECT TEAM?Tel: 1300 624 246Email: newhospital@bendigohealth.org.auWebsite: www.bendigohospitalproject.org.au

Questions you’re askingThere’s so much to know about the Bendigo Hospital Project, here are some of the questions you’ve been asking!

BENDIGO HOSPITAL PROJECT

A MARKET leader in facilities management, Spotless is an integral part of the Exemplar Health consortium at the Bendigo Hospital Project.

From that small start in the big smoke, Spotless has grown into a company that employs more than 36,000 staff throughout Australia and New Zealand, specialising in operational facilities management, asset maintenance, catering and hospitality, commercial cleaning, waste management, utility support services and security.

The new hospital kitchen will be the first operational aspect of this new healthcare facility, and right now it’s gearing up to plate up.

HOSPITAL food and nutrition services play an important role in patient recovery, and at the new Bendigo Hospital, it will be evermore central to the overall patient experience. That’s why facility managers Spotless are working to ensure the new kitchen is fully operational by July 5, and able to support all patient needs across all of its existing campus sites.

Currently 750 meals are being produced in the existing Bendigo Health kitchen, three times per day. Furthermore, the existing hospital kitchen provides food services to Bendigo Health’s aged-care sites located across the city.

However, when current services move to the new kitchen, the ultra-modern facility will have added capacity to produce more meals with greater efficiency while meeting today’s stringent standards.

Part of this ‘early handover’, which will see the old hospital kitchen close while the new hospital kitchen takes the lead, is the fact that 83 Bendigo Health staff are now making the change to employer, Spotless. This transition will ensure continuity across the board.

According to Spotless contract manager, James Cochlan, this month his team is busily involved in readiness-testing, before the new kitchen is open for business next month.

“There’s a huge amount of planning that goes on in the lead-up to opening a new kitchen hospital, for instance to ensure we maintain strict food safety standards,” he said.

“We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished so far, and we are ready to welcome Bendigo Health staff as they come across to the Spotless team, as part of this handover,” James added.

Great spot for SpotlessAustralian company Spotless started as a small dry-cleaning business in Melbourne 70 years ago. Today it’s getting big in Bendigo.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: James Cochlan (contract manager) confers with Dee Hunwick (project manager) and Geoff Phipps (information services manager) about the new project.

TEAM SPIRIT: The Spotless team at the Bendigo Hospital Project gears up for operational mode: Henry D’Roza (food services), Geoff Phipps (project manager), Ruth Glenn (project manager, HR), Dee Hunwick (project manager), Maria Mizzi (business analyst), Iain McMurray (facilities manager), James Cochlan (contract manager), Joey Ryan (project coordinator), Diane Fisher (business analyst), Shane Baulch (soft services), Jarred Walpole (quality manager)

We’re bringing the highest possible service delivery

standards, efficiencies and innovation to this project

Mr Cochlan described the Bendigo Hospital Project as one of 15 Australian PPP projects, where Spotless is currently providing support services.

“We’re bringing the highest possible service delivery standards, efficiencies and innovation to this project and that includes working with design and construction partners to ensure the project achieves best whole-of-life outcomes,” he said.

As the construction activity reduces, it’s time for the hospital’s future equipment and

Leading the Spotless team at the Bendigo Hospital Project is contract manager, James Cochlan. He said this new development is based on a ‘build, own and operate’ model known as a public-private-partnership, or a PPP. He explained that the PPP structure for the Bendigo Hospital Project is part of a 25-year contract between Exemplar Health and the Victorian Government.

“During the building phase Lendlease is responsible for the construction, while Spotless functions as the non-clinical service provider, and we will be operating here for the next 25 years as part of the PPP.”

According to Mr Cochlan, Spotless is focusing on providing the best environment to enable the clinical staff to do their best work.

“The PPP structure is intended to remove the burden of all that’s entailed in looking after the asset (hospital buildings) from clinical professionals, so they can get on with providing quality patient-focused healthcare,” he said.

operational systems to ramp up, and that’s why the Spotless team is becoming progressively more active at the site. Currently a project-based Spotless team is in Bendigo to establish all the systems and processes needed to work in this highly specialised environment, while permanent roles also grow.

Mr Cochlan explained that his team’s work relates to two core areas.

“Our first core area is focusing on the actual building and infrastructure, because we’ll be maintaining the new hospital’s ‘built’ environment where the medical work takes place.

“Here in Bendigo, we are also engaged, not only to manage the new hospital’s physical structure, but to support and maintain all the other buildings around the campus, some of which are of significant heritage value,” he added.

“Our second area of focus is essentially support services and these are best described as additional non-clinical resources such as cleaning, security, waste management and food supply.”

As Spotless gears up for full operational mode, Mr Cochlan anticipates the Spotless team to grow significantly, expecting 95 per cent of this new workforce to be filled by central Victorians.

He said Spotless is also in the process of engaging 230 Bendigo Health staff. These staff members provide non-clinical services, and due to the new structure, they’ll be part of the changeover and will continue to service the hospital with their expertise.

“They will change their employer to Spotless, however they will certainly continue to be part of our strong partnership with Bendigo Health and its thriving Bendigo Health campus community.

“With a big, state-of-the-art hospital, we’ll also need more personnel to maintain the hospital’s increased capacity facilities, including staff for security and staff for grounds maintenance, to service the hospital by January next year,” he said.

“Being a security guard, or being a gardener is a profession, like the many others at the new hospital that can provide job satisfaction, a job located at a world-class healthcare facility and definitely a job where you’ll feel part of the community,” he added.

Spotless was awarded the Bendigo Hospital Project service contract in 2013, through the Exemplar Health consortium bid.

Kitchen preps up

BENDIGO HOSPITAL PROJECT

Local focus, world-class care

WHEN completed, the new Bendigo Hospital will be considered one of the most technologically advanced hospitals in Australia, providing the latest in forward-thinking healthcare.

The delivery of world-class healthcare is itself a benchmark, one that helps healthcare facilities move with the times and develop better ways to care for patients, while reaping the rewards of a strong, informed staff culture and healthy links to community and its many services.

According to the Bendigo Hospital Project’s executive director, Peter Faulkner, Bendigo Health supports its professionals by applying eight elements that represent world-class healthcare.

“By definition, a world-class medical facility is one where state-of-the-art clinical services come together in a focused effort to meet the needs of the patient by providing the best physical, mental, social and spiritual care,” he said.

THESE ARE THE EIGHT ELEMENTS:

CAPACITY MEETS NEEDThe new hospital will have the capacity to

meet future needs, because it’s been planned and designed to match anticipated growth that will come from increased demand of services.

SELF-SUFFICIENCY With its increased capacity, contemporary

design and latest clinical technology, the new hospital will reduce the need to transfer local patients to metro services. Of course, with specialist interventions such as major trauma or organ transplants – there will still be transfers, but our new healthcare facility will enable Bendigo Health staff to cover a broader range of quality care for local residents.

TECH KNOWHOW World-class healthcare increasingly relies on

technology and the new hospital has a number of the latest technologies that will support safe quality care for our patients.

MODELS OF CARE*To maximise all levels of care within the

new hospital, Bendigo Health has reviewed and updated its models of care* to ensure they are based on the latest clinical evidence and will operate within the new environment.

GREEN FOCUSReducing the new hospital’s environmental

impact is another key element to existing as a world-class healthcare provider. This new design incorporates water recycling, solar power, intelligent internal heating and cooling and thermally efficient construction materials and methods.

SAFETY FOR ALL An environment that provides safety for

patients, staff and visitors is a key element of world-class care. That’s why Bendigo Health has stringently ensured that experts are involved every step of the way – with regards to health and safety, and infection prevention and control.

COORDINATED APPROACH Bendigo Health is part of a larger

healthcare system and the design of the new hospital reflects how it integrates with other services in its role as a regional secondary referral hospital. One example to support this role is the inclusion of a helipad into the design. This feature will support rapid response patient transfers and help coordinate services with both regional and metro hospitals.

TRANQUIL SETTINGPeaceful and comforting surroundings,

research tell us, creates a healing environment, and that’s why the new hospital is naturally light-filled, ambient and boasts ample natural spaces with its courtyard designs. The building’s plans have also ensured busy support services (think noisy trolleys) are separated from patient areas and thoroughfares.

* A ‘model of care’ broadly defines the way health services are delivered. It outlines best practice care and services.

THE striking façade invites us to look at its aesthetic design from many perspectives, be it north, south, east or west. And with each aspect, new parts of the hospital are featured, including the prominent panels which consist of 14,000 square metres of glazing.

What is harder to appreciate is what is happening inside the building which includes painting, flooring, and cladding. Gradually too, the rooms are being installed with equipment – from surgical pendant systems needed in operating theatres and delivery rooms for anaesthesia surgical purposes to linear accelerator (LINAC) machines which are used to treat cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy. The impressive ‘main street’ internal entrance continues to be fitted-out, with the glazing, timber panels, floor paving

and revolving door adjacent to Mercy Street, taking shape.

ON THE SITEThe construction activity at the Bendigo

Hospital Project is on-schedule and continues to meet expectations in every way. Currently the project has around 430 workers onsite, whereas at its peak there was a total of 790 workers onsite, a project milestone in itself. Activity has shifted; we’re focusing on how to make this facility operate as a hospital, and that’s why we require highly skilled technicians rather than large numbers of tradespeople to construct a building.

Outside there’s much activity on the south side of Drought Street, where civil and road works are in progress, including forming

footpaths, asphalting and line-marking. This activity forms part of the emergency department (ED) entrance and the ambulance bay, as workers finish a vital area which will be used for the delivery of both ambulant and non-ambulant (trolley bound) patients to ED by the ambulance service. From this area, along to Hope Street, footpaths are being prepared, and irrigation systems installed along the hospital’s frontage for future landscaping uses.

HERITAGEBendigo Health continues its work

restoring the heritage West Wing and Concert Hall buildings on the Anne Caudle Centre precinct, with a contractor onsite and approximately 20 personnel.

TESTING EQUIPMENT

Facilities management company Spotless is currently testing equipment as it prepares to open the new hospital kitchen in July. Rigorous inspections and reviews are taking place - for instance cool rooms, chiller systems, dishwashing equipment and an eWater System that’s been installed throughout the kitchen to provide cleaning and sanitising solutions, are all being checked for quality and operational effectiveness.

Certainly the Bendigo Hospital Project is well on its way to substantial completion of ‘stage one’ as we look forward to, in anticipation, its opening in late January 2017.

Update release: June 1, 2016

It’s easy to see the progress from the outside, as the Bendigo Hospital Project takes shape.

In 2017, when the new Bendigo Hospital opens, our local community will have an opportunity to experience world-class healthcare, at a state-of-the-art facility. But what does that mean for us, and how can we unravel the term ‘world-class’

in relation to patient care, to gain a better understanding?

Construction Update, June 2016