Dublin-based ventilation company Fantech has reported a significant growth in supplying equipment to Ireland’s healthcare premises in response to the Government’s commitment to developing primary healthcare facilities.
The Department of Health has taken a deliberate move towards relieving the pressures on hospitals, particularly emergency departments, by adopting a policy where primary care is very much the focus. Health centres provide a wide range of primary care and community services in towns and villages throughout the country. According to the Department, “The development of a high performance health system will require, among many other things, that the overall volume and range of health and personal social services available be greatly expanded over the coming years.” This has seen the construction of new healthcare facilities and Fantech has been closely involved in ensuring effective ventilation across many of them.
The nature of primary care recognises the importance of addressing health and wellbeing at the earliest possible point – including, wherever possible, taking preventive measures. An important part of this equation, although often completely ignored, is the quality of the air that we breathe.
Public health campaigns regularly focus on the health implications of what we eat and drink, particularly given the current pre-occupation with the health issues relating to obesity. However, when you consider that on average we consume 2.4 kg of fluid a day and 1.5 kg of food but some 20kg of air, it helps put the importance of air quality into perspective.
This is being recognised by health professionals and, while attempts are being made to reduce outdoor pollution, addressing indoor air quality is also vital – even more so when you realise that in Europe, we spend an estimated 90% of our lives indoors.
For ventilation products to match the needs of primary healthcare facilities, it is important to match the components of the ventilation system with the specific requirements of the building. For example, one building may have many smaller individual rooms – a doctor’s surgery being a good example – therefore requiring a series of smaller domestic fans, while another building may have much larger rooms where a larger heat recovery system could be used, not only ensuring good indoor air quality but also providing greater efficiency in the heating and cooling of the building.
PROJECT EXAMPLES
This 24,000-square-foot primary care centre, operated by the Health Services Executive (HSE) in the town of Cavan, accommodates a primary care team providing a range of health and social care services including GP, public health nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, psychology, dentistry and social work services.
Fantech was appointed to supply a range of equipment, including a total of 23 fans and seven heat-recovery units (HRUs). The heating of buildings in cold weather and the cooling of them in warmer conditions is wasteful when extracted air is simply expelled into the atmosphere outside, since the building’s heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems must compensate for the loss. Fantech’s HRUs are fitted into the extraction plant of Loughtree Primary Care to recover a large proportion of what would otherwise be wasted energy.
Located in Galway, Croí House is an innovative heart health centre that promotes cardiovascular health and wellbeing. The two-storey, 14,000-square-foot building includes medical assessment rooms, conference and lecture facilities, meeting rooms and a cardiovascular gym.
Fastlane supplied 13 Komfovent HRUs – four RECU models and nine REGO models – to recover the heat energy from the extracted air and transfer it to fresh air as it entered the building utilising a counter-flow
heat exchanger between the inbound and outbound air flow. The units provide fresh air and improved climate control, with interface controllers to optimise energy savings by reducing the heating (or cooling) requirements and air quality sensors to monitor and adjust the air flow depending on the level of contaminants.
Kingscourt is one of several purpose-built primary care centres in the North East HSE Region. The HSE occupies the entire top floor of the two-storey building, whilst local GPs, nurses and visiting health professionals practice using the ground floor where the Dunaree Pharmacy is also located. The centre also houses a physiotherapist, occupational therapist and speech therapist.
The HRUs supplied for the Kingscourt site were bespoke units – horizontal models designed with a low height in order to fit within the building’s false ceiling. This project illustrates Fantech’s design expertise, in addition to the standard product range, to produce units to meet very specific application criteria.
Alongside its work in primary care, Fantech is active in other areas of the healthcare market. Recent projects include the provision of ventilation for St Loman’s Psychiatric Hospital, Rockfield Clinic in Dundrum and Waterford Regional Hospital. For further information, email info@fantechventilation.com or see www.fantechventilation.com.
Fantech is part of the Elta Group. This is a £190 million family of businesses with operations in seven countries on four continents which, together with a network of international distributors, provides quality fans and related air movement equipment to customers worldwide.