'The backbone' - The story of our Estates and Facilities Team
They are a team of nearly 500 people and are crucial to the Trust and to ensuring our clinical services run effectively on a day-to-day basis.
The Estates and Facilities Team play a pivotal role in everything from keeping buildings safe, making sure lights work, areas are clean, patients get their meals, and plenty more.
The team and their work is being celebrated today (Wednesday, 19 June) on National Estates and Facilities Day so people can find out more about what goes on behind the scenes.
"It's really the national recognition that Estates and Facilities staff are mainly in the background - seemingly forgotten in many cases - but actually do a fantastic job, [they are] the backbone of the of the NHS," said Director of Operational Estates and Facilities, Steve Wedgwood.
"We're having National Estates and Facilities Day to recognise our staff in particular. I'm proud of our team - which is almost 500 staff - and we want to celebrate that because we've got a very diverse team.
"About 63% of our team are from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, and they come from 54 countries. So when when you look at that kind of breadth of things you get the feel for what happens behind the scenes all the time."
An event is being held at Choices Restaurant at Hillingdon Hospital to mark Estates and Facilities Day.
There will be information stands, showcases from Trust partners including Brunel University, transport provider The Hats Group, waste management firm Grundon and catering company Apetito, as well as a chance to see the Trust's window cleaning robot in action.
Some of the latest technologial innnovations will also be on display as the team shows how it is incorporating new devices in its work.
Find out more about the Estates and Facilities Team and their work by listening to our podcast with Steve Wedgwood
The numbers behind the Estates and Facilities team
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25 million m² of space cleaned (every year)
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1,550 tonnes of rubbish taken away
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600,000 patient meals delivered
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9,000 pieces of equipment maintained
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11,000 call-outs for Estates staff
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116,000 m² of wall painted
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800 light bulbs fixed