Heating controls in hospitals and healthcare buildings is hugely important due to temperature playing a large part in healthcare: high temperature is often a symptom of illness; viruses and bacteria have ideal temperatures in which they flourish; and extreme high or low temperatures have detrimental effects on the human body.
Considerations for heating control in hospitals and healthcare
Hospitals and healthcare buildings in the UK cover a range of uses, from A&E and ambulance stations to care homes and GP surgeries. They provide challenging conditions for heating due to a variety of construction styles, ages and heating systems — often on one site.
The NHS heating season runs from October to May, meaning heating is generally switched on in that period and off over the summer. Very often, hospitals in the UK are heated as one site or building, which does not allow for much variance in control between wards, offices, maintenance and other areas. This can result in some areas reaching higher or lower temperatures than ideal.
In some instances, this may be seriously detrimental to the running of the hospital, for example where storage areas are not kept at the required temperature for storing medicines or other medical supplies, or if machines and equipment produce large amounts of heat and run the risk of overheating.
Staff working in areas with little to no ventilation, without individually controlled heaters, or who are unable to take regular breaks in more temperate areas, can feel the effects of excessive heat or cold quickly. This is particularly true in the varied environments found in hospitals and healthcare buildings, such as offices, wards, inpatients, maintenance, consulting rooms, server rooms, and operating theatres.
This approach also fails to take into account the needs of different patients. In warmer conditions, if a patient feels cold they can be provided with additional blankets and other warming clothing, but warmer patients have far more limited options to cool down. In cold weather, while blankets and clothing can still be provided, a colder atmosphere can make it harder to warm up.
Additional considerations must also be made for the healthcare setting, leading to concerns around using types of heating or cooling that could pose a risk of infection, such as fans or air conditioning.
Benefits of heating control for hospitals
Using a Building Energy Management System such as HeatingSave can provide a greater level of heating control for hospitals, resulting in greater comfort for staff and patients, reduced energy use, and lower energy bills through optimised efficiency and performance.
Zoning each room or area and using sensors to detect the temperature and occupancy would allow each zone to be individually heated as required. This would provide necessary heating or cooling in areas where demand was highest, but also allow for fine-tuning at specific times if desired.
It would also allow areas to be kept within acceptable limits, for example where medical supplies are particularly susceptible to changes in temperature, or where equipment outputs large amounts of heat.
HeatingSave also uses occupancy sensors to determine whether heating should be active, so any unused rooms, wards or offices would remain unheated or kept at a lower temperature until needed. In ambulance stations this proves especially useful, as there may not be time to switch off the heating when a call comes in.
HeatingSave can be installed across multiple buildings and sites, providing heating control and monitoring from one system, with remote access made easy via the HeatingSave app. This means the hospital's Property Services staff can monitor the temperatures of all buildings and zones from one place to ensure they remain within acceptable limits. The system also sends alerts whenever anything needs attention, ensuring immediate notification of equipment failures to the people who need to know — without relying on information from other staff who may be too busy to report issues straight away.
By monitoring energy usage, administration staff can see any anomalies or problem areas where energy use is higher, and easily find which zones are responsible. This allows for real-time action to be taken if energy costs go over target, and budgeting to be adjusted utilising usage data provided through HeatingSave.
Additional benefits of using HeatingSave for heating control in hospitals
In addition to providing improved heating control for hospitals and healthcare buildings, HeatingSave has other benefits.
HeatingSave is compatible with almost every type of heating system (including gas, electric and biomass boilers, air conditioning systems, radiators, electric heaters, heat pumps and solar PV), negating the need to replace existing heating systems with expensive new ones. What's more, HeatingSave can be used to replace older energy management systems (including Trend, Allen Martin, Schneider, Johnson Controls, Siemens, Vickers and more).
The system can also control lighting and other electric appliances and equipment. This provides the added benefit of using the occupancy sensors to switch lights on and off according to room use, as well as any additional equipment that doesn't need to be kept on. This further reduces the energy use, and saves money on bills.
A further advantage for using HeatingSave in healthcare settings is that it can also monitor air quality, relative humidity and volatile organic compound (VOC) levels. This is especially useful for hospitals and other healthcare buildings as high humidity can cause breathing difficulties, and increased VOC levels can trigger reactions such as headaches, irritation of the eyes, nose and throat, and respiratory problems, in addition to some VOCs potentially reacting with other materials or substances. HeatingSave can send alerts when a threshold is reached to allow for intervention, or even interface with electric windows to provide ventilation automatically.
The HeatingSave occupancy sensors can also be used to detect intruders, with the heating zones used to locate the area in which there are unexpected visitors. Alerts can be set up to notify specified users should any unauthorised activity be registered. This provides a simple-to-use, but fast, effective and responsive intruder management system that can be run from your mobile phone.
As an indication of the suitability and trust afforded to HeatingSave for healthcare settings, HeatingSave (via our sister company Tensor) was the first Building Energy Management System manufacturer on the NHS Framework list.
The NHS Hard Facilities Management Framework Agreement aims to help maintain the internal and external physical assets of NHS buildings, ensuring they provide a safe environment for the patients, visitors and staff.
This acknowledgement of the HeatingSave system by the NHS Shared Business Services means our Building Energy Management System is trusted to cut NHS and Healthcare energy waste and better utilise the plant and equipment already in use.
Better heating control provides sustainability benefits
In addition to physical benefits to patients and staff, a Building Energy Management System also contributes to the NHS Net Zero strategy.
The NHS was the world's first health system to commit to reaching Net Zero and reduce future impacts of climate change. It aims to reach Net Zero for all controlled emissions by 2040.
Better heating control and energy management for healthcare buildings will reduce the amount of energy used for heating, as well as potential saving for lighting and other electrical equipment. HeatingSave can cut energy use through finer control and optimised processes, by calculating the exact times at which to turn on, off and change the heating, including the optimum temperatures required for comfort.
A core part of the commitment to reducing energy use is setting a benchmark for how much is used, and from which sources (mains, solar, heat pumps etc). HeatingSave can also monitor energy use from multiple sources across a whole site or multiple locations. This can be easily monitored through the HeatingSave software, receiving minute-by-minute data on energy usage and environmental impact. This allows users to determine the energy performance of their building and analyse the data to find the cause and effect of wasted energy.
Summary of benefits for improved heating control for healthcare buildings
Using a Building Energy Management System such as HeatingSave for improved heating control for hospitals and other healthcare buildings provides:
- Improved comfort for patients and staff
- Reduced energy use through optimised efficiency
- Savings on energy bills of upwards of 25% for poorly controlled systems
- Increased awareness of energy usage for reporting and budgeting
- Decreased energy waste and carbon output
- More streamlined heating control through one system for a whole site
- Instant alerts for any problems or potential concerns
- Energy monitoring to help analyse environmental impact
- Additional monitoring benefits with air quality sensors and occupancy sensors
- Compatibility with almost every type heating system
- Convenient replacement for aging energy management systems
Every hospital and healthcare building is different in design, age and layout, but HeatingSave can serve the needs of any site of any construction. To discuss what your healthcare facility needs, talk to us today.