Facilities management help desks

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an exploratory look at facilities and estates management help desks in four different case study organisations. Design/methodology/approach – A case study methodology was adopted, with semi-structured interviews and observations as the principal methods to collect data. Findings – The findings suggest that the key factors for the success of a facilities management (FM) help desk include mapping out all customer requirements, recruiting the correct operating staff, ensuring an appropriate working environment and client communication once the help desk is operational. Originality/value – At the time of the study there had been relatively little research completed focusing specifically on FM help desks. The paper will be of value to facilities and property managers who are considering implementing a help desk service

Restorative Justice: Theory, Processes, and Application in Rural Alaska

An exploration of the principles behind using restorative justice as an alternate form of sentencing in criminal cases, with a focus particularly on how restorative justice might be of benefit in rural Alaska. Includes a bibliography. A sidebar, "Restorative Justice Programs and Sentencing", looks at amendments to Alaska Rules of Criminal Procedure 11(i) and Delinquency Rules 21(d)(3) and 23(f) which describe the requirements for referral to a restorative justice program as part of the sentencing process.[Introduction] / Restorative Justice / Restorative Processes / Victim-Offender Mediation / Conferencing / Circles / Restorative Processes in Rural Alaska / Conclusion / SIDEBARS / Restorative Justice Programs and Sentencing / Change to Alaska Criminal Rule 11 / Restorative Justice ReferencesYe

Community Justice Initiatives in the Galena District Court

This article examines a community outreach program in rural Alaska whereby an Alaska Court System judge uses restorative justice principles in village sentencing hearings.[Introduction] / Community Involvement / Restorative Community Outreach in the Yukon-Koyukuk Region / Using Talking Circles to Generate Community Recommendations / ConclusionYe

Alvarado Revisited: A Missing Element in Alaska’s Quest to Provide Impartial Juries for Rural Alaskans

In Alvarado v. State, the Alaska Supreme Court declared that an impartial jury is a cross section of the community and that the community where the events at issue transpired must be represented in the jury. This decision spurred changes to jury selection procedures and the creation of Criminal Rule 18, an effort to ensure defendants from remote villages are judged by a jury representative of these rural areas. The Alaska Court of Appeals recently addressed an issue of first impression regarding the application of Criminal Rule 18. In Joseph v. State, the defendant was convicted of murdering his girlfriend in the tiny Native village of Rampart. His trial was conducted in Fairbanks by a jury selected from an area that does not include Rampart or any other similar Native village. Criminal Rule 18 allowed the defendant a limited time to transfer his trial to Nenana, which more closely resembles the characteristics of Rampart. However, the defendant was never informed of this right. His trial counsel believed trial location was a decision for the attorney and did not see a need to request the change. In a memorandum opinion that creates no binding precedent, the Court of Appeals agreed with this view and held it did not violate the defendant’s due process rights not to be informed of the opportunity to have his case heard at an alternative trial site. This Article challenges that view, arguing it fails to safeguard the spirit and purpose of the constitutional right to an impartial jury. To remote villagers in Bush Alaska whose customs, culture, and ways of life are vastly different than in larger cities within the state, the opportunity to be judged by those sharing similarities is of upmost importance. Consequently, decisions of trial venue, for purposes of Criminal Rule 18, should be knowingly made or waived by the defendant

Lean healthcare assets challenge FM performance measurement conventions

Purpose; To show how Lean Asset thinking can be applied to health care facilities using different measures to compare the estates contribution to the business of health care providers. The challenge to conventional wisdom matches that posed by Lean Production to Mass Manufacturing. Methodology; Data Envelope Analysis examines the income generated and patient occupied area as outputs from the Gross Area of a Trust’s estate. Findings; The approach yield strategic comparisons that conventional FM measures of cost per m2 hide. The annual cost of an excess estate is conservatively estimated at £600,000,000(in England alone) Research limitations/implications; Further research to understand the causes of the excess is needed and is in hand. Meanwhile the research illustrates the power of an alternative way of assessing facilities performance. Practical implications Have already been demonstrated in two trusts who have used such an analysis to define strategic estates targets, Originality. The author’s are not aware of the Lean Asset perspective previously being applied to healthcare facilities. The research shows the underlying fallacy of relying on cost per m2 as the primary measure of asset performance.</p

Evaluation of the new ward housekeeper role in UK NHS Trusts

In the year 2000, the UK government promoted the concept that hospital services be shaped around the needs of the patient to make their stay in hospital as comfortable as possible and advocated the introduction of a ward housekeeper role in at least 50 per cent of hospitals by 2004. This is a ward-based non-clinical role centred on cleaning, food service and maintenance to ensure that the basics of care are right for the patient. In 2002 the Facilities Management Graduate Centre at Sheffield Hallam University completed a series of six case studies looking at the role within different NHS Trusts. These were developed through interviews and observations with the facilities manager, ward housekeepers and nursing staff and also by collecting documentary evidence such as job descriptions, financial details and training information. Common themes were identified, relating to experiences of developing and implementing the ward housekeeper role. This paper suggests models of best practice relating to role, recruitment, induction, training, integration and management.</p

A revised approach to performance measurement for health-care estates

The purpose of the research was to show how lean asset thinking can be applied to UK health-care facilities using different measures to compare the estates contribution to the business of health-care providers. The challenge to conventional wisdom matches that posed by ‘Lean Production’ to ‘Mass Manufacturing’. Data envelope analysis examined the income generated and patient-occupied area as outputs from the gross area of a NHS Trust’s estate. The approach yielded strategic comparisons that conventional facilities management measures of cost per square metre hide. The annual cost of an excess estate is conservatively estimated at £600,000,000 (in England alone). Further research to understand the causes of the excess is needed. Meanwhile the research illustrates the power of an alternative way of assessing facilities performance. The authors are not aware of the lean asset perspective previously being applied to health-care facilities. The research shows the underlying fallacy of relying on cost per square metre as the primary measure of asset performance. The results and discussion will be particularly useful to senior estates and facilities managers wishing to use new measures to define strategic estates targets

Recruitment and retention of estates and facilities staff in the NHS

Purpose – Agenda for Change is set to be the biggest reform of pay since the National Health Service (NHS) began in 1948. As well as introducing a standardised pay structure; it also aims to improve recruitment, retention and staff morale. Staff groups identified as having recruitment and retention problems include estates/works officers, qualified maintenance crafts persons and qualified maintenance technicians. The object of this research was to investigate recruitment and retention problems for estates and facilities staff currently experienced by Trusts. Design/methodology/approach – Focus groups were used as the primary method of data collection in an attempt to tap into the existing expertise of staff working at strategic and operational supervisory positions in a wide range of Trusts. Findings – Although our findings suggest that the main recruitment and retention issues fall into four main themes: social, financial, environmental and political; recruitment and retention of estates and facilities management staff is a complex problem involving a wide range of issues and these can vary from location to location. Furthermore this should also be seen as a series of issues that varies across employment groups including: domestic/housekeeping, trades, managers/officers and facilities directors, which need to be distinguished. Practical implications – There is a continuing need to raise the profile of estates and facilities management staff in the NHS to those levels enjoyed by Human Resource (HR) and Financial Management. Furthermore perceptions surrounding both recruitment and retention issues and the nature of work within estates and facilities management staff in the NHS can lead to a negative and self-perpetuating “cycle of failure” where there is an assumption of loss of control. However, there are some initiatives being undertaken that suggest it is possible to concentrate on internal matters such as more appropriate and flexible recruitment processes, improved support services for staff and greater flexibility within the job and that these can generate “cycles of success”.</p