NSW/ACT

NSW/ACT BRANCH REPORT

President’s Report to National Board February 2021

The NSW / ACT Branch of the Institute of Healthcare Engineering Australia (IHEA) will be holding a Professional Development Conference, Trades Display and Branch General Meeting at the C.ex Club, Coffs Harbour. The conference theme “Environmental Challenges for Healthcare Engineering” continues the IHEA intention to provide continuous professional development and exposure to industry best practice, products and technology in the ever-changing face of healthcare engineering and facilities management. The professional development offered through this invitation is a unique opportunity to increase knowledge of modern trends across the broader healthcare industry. The invitation is extended to IHEA members as well as non–members, engineers, healthcare facility managers, industry professionals and service providers alike. Delegates will come from a cross section of metropolitan and country NSW, major hospitals of the ACT, including both public and private sectors. The conference will commence at 11:30 am on Friday 23rd April 2021, with registration, followed by lunch and an afternoon comprising of technical presentations leading into a trade exhibition later in the day. Friday will conclude after the trade exhibition with a semi-formal dinner. Saturday will comprise technical presentations in the morning and a Healthcare Facility tour after lunch.

Furthermore, the next NSW Professional Development Day will be programmed for June 2021. Theming for the day will be around Healthcare facilities and Australian Standards. The state committee will further confirm the details of scheduled PD days pending COVID-19 restrictions.

The commitment to hold these events on a regular basis will be part of NSW/ACT 2021 branch strategies to engage more deeply with the IHEA community however due to COVID-19 restrictions these events will be with some restrictions until further notice. Currently there’s a greater focus on running PD days virtually.

AS2896 Medical Gases

IHEA NSW/ACT committee member Mal Allen has advised us that there is an innovative round of request for comments to occur in the next four months. Mal Allen joined several meetings with the Standards Australia working committee to deliberate on public comments of the draft publication. Given the potentially large number of replies the review is continuing with the revised standard expected for finalisation by the end of 2021

Membership

The NSW/ACT branch committee is also planning to send reminders for membership renewal and actively engage with the members to understand their expectations from IHEA activities. Due to COVID-19 the interest from both industry groups and health facility management practitioners have been limited. The committee is discussing a variety of ongoing strategies to serve our members better and meet their expectations and continues to actively encourage members to use the IHEA Learning and Development App. If you haven’t downloaded it and registered, do it today. It is available from the app store appropriate to your device and can also be accessed via the web.

The NSW/ACT State Committee of Management is as follows and can be contacted via email at ihea.nswact@ihea.org.au

Name Position

Rob Arian President

Mal Allen Jason Swingler Marcus Stalker Dean Benke Darrell Milton Greg Allen Brett Petherbridge Jon Gowdy John Miles Treasurer Vice President Secretary CoM CoM CoM CoM CoM CoM