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The value of facilities and estates to patient care and well-being
Edited by Daryl May
Introduction
Increased competitiveness in the business sector puts considerable pressure on companies to reduce expenditures on "non-core" activities, such as maintenance and operations. This encourages buildings' owners and users to raise their expectations and requirements of facilities. Facility managers are thus expected to attain lower operational costs and risks through effective and efficient design, construction, management, and maintenance of facilities, without compromising their performance.
Over the past three decades, the field of facilities management (FM) has witnessed significant development, mainly due to the following five global trends:
increased construction costs;
greater recognition of the effects of space on productivity;
increased performance requirements by users and owners;
contemporary bureaucratic and statutory restrictions; and
recognition that the performance of facilities is highly dependent on their maintenance ([21] Shohet, 2006).
As a result, the traditional "maintenance manager" has become a "facility manager," and FM practices have been enriched with methodological procedures particularly implemented with key performance indicators. The facility manager makes strategic and operational facilities-planning decisions that affect the organization's business performance. This is particularly true in healthcare facilities, which are considered to be among the most complicated and difficult types of facilities to manage, maintain, and operate.
This paper illustrates the implementation of the integrated healthcare facilities management model (IHFMM), as developed in the frame of this research, using a case study. The results and the conclusions of this case study are presented and discussed.
Background
Facilities Management has traditionally been regarded in the old-fashioned sense of cleaning, repairs and maintenance ([4] Atkin and Brooks, 2000). A decade ago, FM responsibilities broadened to encompass "buying, selling, developing and adapting stock to meet wants of owners regarding finance, space, location, quality and so on" ([17] O'Sullivan and Powell, 1990). Recognition of the effects of space on productivity stimulated the development of the Facilities Management discipline ([1] Alexander, 1996; [6] Brown et al. , 2001; [7] Douglas, 1996; [9] Granath and Alexander, 2006; [12] Kweon et al. , 2008; [16] Neely, 1998; [23] Then, 1999). From the 1990s onward, there has been a trend toward more open markets, and especially toward gradually increased competition, as a result of globalization ([10] Hamer, 1994). Now,...