Surveyor profile

KEEPING THE SHOW ON THE ROAD

ENGINEERING OFFICER DANIEL SWEENEY WITH HIS TEAM AND COLLEAGUES IN HSE ESTATES HAVE BEEN WORKING HARD TO KEEP HEALTHCARE FACILITIES SAFE AND OPERATIONAL DURING THE PANDEMIC. Based in Cherry Orchard Hospital in Dublin, Daniel and his team are responsible for providing a manner that would protect HSE staff and service users was my first priority. This required a review of how we deliver essential maintenance range of maintenance and facility needs to over services at premises providing healthcare”. 300 premises throughout Kildare, Wicklow and Patient safety is, of course, paramount: “One of South Dublin: “A typical day begins with the biggest challenges for us in the early stages reviewing emails in the office at 8.00am followed was creating ways of working that adhered to by linking in with regional maintenance infection prevention and control guidelines. managers, technical staff and the admin team. We had to re-evaluate and risk assess My role is both site and office based so I travel to completion of even routine tasks and change the monitor sites and to meet my team members way we schedule and manage contracted Family man and HSE colleagues”. services or external suppliers. This was carried Daniel lives in Naas, Co. Kildare, with his Daniel manages more than 80 staff, including out in collaboration with HSE clinicians and wife Noreen, who he says is incredibly maintenance managers, tradesmen, skilled service managers to ensure that any essential supportive, particularly during times similar operatives, administration, supplies, technical works could be carried out with patient care and to the last few months, and his three support, and works alongside his HSE Estates safety front and centre of all tasks”. daughters. In his spare time, he enjoys colleagues delivering project, property, and As the months have gone by, the Estates team is motor racing, rock music (he plays guitar) facility management. He is also responsible for extremely busy reconfiguring space and and GAA, and is delighted that his three contracts in relation to planned preventive managing fit-outs such as the Citywest facility, daughters each share one of his passions. maintenance (PPM) and statutory compliance, all while working with limited resources: which entails managing a large number of “The number one priority is continuation of There has to be clear interaction between the external contractors and suppliers. healthcare. The challenge facing our particular clinical professionals, building occupiers and department is identifying capacity within, and the construction professionals in facilities and sites, Adapting to change augmenting of, existing facilities to provide an a greater understanding of the priorities, with Of course, a lot has changed since the arrival of environment where healthcare professionals that knowledge base we now have”. Covid-19, and Daniel and his team, as frontline can carry out their work as safely as possible”. Daniel is full of praise for his maintenance team, workers, had to adapt: “Ensuring staff could Nowadays we are living in ‘the new normal’: who he says have been fantastic throughout: attend work safely, and carry out tasks in a “It’s certainly not getting any easier but we’re “My team and Estates colleagues have been learning more, we’re adapting more effectively, putting in relentlessly long hours, our

SURVEYOR PROFILE and operationally we’re in a better place because we know what we have to do, and how to do it. tradesmen and general operatives continue to be on call constantly, coming in at all hours to do

Ann-Marie Hardiman Covid-19 has changed the way we deliver our anything they can to help – they’re a great team

Managing Editor, services, possibly forever more. It’s not just with vast healthcare facility experience, and the

Think Media about turning up and getting the work done. lifeblood of the maintenance department”.