How our Estates team stepped up in a crisis
When a significant boiler issue occurred at King George Hospital, our Estates and Facilities team responded quickly to maintain essential services and minimise disruption to patient care.
The incident occurred last winter when the hospital's main boiler system suffered a rare double failure within days of each other in December, leaving patients exposed to cold conditions and placing our staff under urgent pressure to restore heating across the site.
As we mark Estates and Facilities Day (Wednesday 17 June), Terry Gilliland, Head of Estates at King George Hospital, recalls the situation that he described as both unexpected and unprecedented.
It was a freak occurrence for both boilers to fail at the same time. We lost one boiler over the Christmas period and were relying on the second one, but then the pump failed on that as well.
The pump is essential for circulating hot water through the system, so when it failed, the boiler couldn’t distribute heat safely or effectively, forcing the heating system to shut down.
The team immediately began searching for replacement parts, only to discover that the specialist pumps had to be manufactured in Germany.
With no suitable alternatives available and delivery dates repeatedly pushed back, the team faced a four-week wait before repairs could be be completed.
Terry said:
We were ringing around the country trying to find a replacement.
There was only one manufacturer for the pumps we needed. Once we'd removed the old pumps, there wasn't any more work we could do until the new ones arrived. It became a waiting game.
Determined to keep patients and staff warm, our Estates and Facilities team responded immediately and worked quickly to restore heating across the hospital.
We went to every shop we could find, wherever we could get heaters, and cleared them out. We loaded up trolleys and took them around the wards ourselves.
Within days, more than 120 electric heaters had been given out across the hospital. The Estates team also got a temporary boiler for the hospital which restored hot water and some heating.
Throughout the four-week disruption, colleagues in Estates and Facilities worked long days, late nights and weekends to support the hospital.
They continually monitored temperatures and responded to calls from wards and ensured additional heaters were delivered wherever needed.
Throughout it all, staff across the hospital remained focused on doing the best job possible for our patients.
The response demonstrated the often unseen contribution of the Estates and Facilities team, including service partners like CBRE, Mitie, Equans and Sodexo, make across our Trust every day.
Terry said:
I was immensely proud of the team. Everyone mucked in. They went above and beyond, doing everything they possibly could to keep the hospital running safely.
Ward teams were over the moon when heaters arrived and patients later thanked us for their efforts once the situation had been resolved.
When things go wrong, you need those teams to step up and be visible to stop the hospital grinding to a halt, and that's exactly what happened here.