AES Engineering Ltd has increased its reliability services and product offering in North America by acquiring a controlling stake in the reliability company, DATUM RMS, for an undisclosed sum. This latest expansion in the global market follows recent acquisitions in the Netherlands, Canada and Australia. DATUM RMS, headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and also with operations in Savannah, Georgia is a recognised leader in reliability and vibration monitoring services, specialising in the prevention and solving of problems with machinery, foundations and structures. The acquisition will allow the existing customers of DATUM RMS to benefit from a wider product and service offering from the AES Reliability Group of companies owned by AES Engineering Ltd. Chris Rea, Group Managing Director of Rotherham’s AES Engineering Ltd, said: “The acquisition of DATUM RMS supports our strategic decision to globalise our reliability focused businesses and further strengthens our customer offering in the important North American market.”

Thousands of extra medically fit patients will be discharged from hospitals into community care settings, such as care homes, over the coming weeks to free up hospital beds and reduce pressure on the NHS, the Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay is set to announce today. The government will make available up to £200 million of additional funding to immediately buy short-term care placements to allow people to be discharged safely from hospitals into the community where they will receive the care they need to recover before returning to their homes. The move will free up hospital beds so people can be admitted more quickly from A&E to wards, reducing pressure on emergency departments and speeding up ambulance handovers. There are currently around 13,000 people occupying hospital beds in England who are fit to be discharged. The additional £200 million – on top of the £500 million Adult Social Care Discharge Fund already announced which reached the frontline in December – will fund maximum stays of up to four weeks per patient until the end of March. Integrated care boards – organisations that arrange health services in each local area – will begin booking beds that are most appropriate to patients’ needs. The government is immediately making available additional £50 million in capital funding to expand hospital discharge lounges and ambulance hubs. Ambulance queues in some areas are made worse due to a lack of physical space – the new money will create new ambulance hubs where vehicles can manoeuvre more easily to avoid delays handing over patients. The funding boost will also expand discharge lounges in NHS Trusts – areas where patients can be moved out of acute beds while they wait to be discharged, freeing up beds in the meantime. In a statement in Parliament later today, the Health and Social Care Secretary will outline a series of further measures to address current pressures facing the NHS over winter, including long waits for emergency care and delays to discharging patients who are medically fit to leave hospital. This will include six areas trialling innovative long-term solutions to free up hospital beds and make sure patients get the right care at the right time, which could be rolled out across the NHS if successful. Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said: “The NHS is under enormous pressure from Covid and flu, and on top of tackling the backlog caused by the pandemic, Strep A and upcoming strikes, this winter poses an extreme challenge. “I am taking urgent action to reduce pressure on the health service, including investing an additional £200 million to enable the NHS to immediately buy up beds in the community to safely discharge thousands of patients from hospital and free up hospital capacity, on top of the £500 million we’ve already invested to tackle this issue.

“In addition, we are trialling six National Discharge Frontrunners – innovative, quick solutions which could reduce discharge delays, moving patients from hospital to home more quickly.”

Humber and North Yorkshire and the Leeds Health and Care Partnership are amongst areas which have put forward ideas that will help the patients in their areas move out of hospital more quickly whilst providing continuity of care. These ideas include dedicated dementia hubs, new offers of provision for rehabilitative care and creating effective data tools to help manage demand for discharge of medically fit patients – giving them the help they need to live comfortably in the community after a hospital stay. This new programme will trial long term solutions to issues which result in patients staying in hospital longer than necessary. For example one area, Leeds, is looking to improve how health teams in their local hospitals are working with those providing community services such as rehabilitation, which will mean better support locally for patients who need support after a hospital stay.

Retailers enjoyed better-than-expected trading in discretionary categories in the run up to Christmas, according to new data revealed by accountancy and business advisory firm BDO LLP. However, the positive results come amid concern that sales growth continues to lag behind inflation, and heavy discounting required to generate these results will impact already thin margins and retailers’ profitability. According to BDO’s High Street Sales Tracker (HSST), total like-for-like (LFL) sales, combined in-store and online, grew by +9.8% in December from a base of +21.4% for the equivalent month in 2021, extending the trend of positive LFL results to a total of 22 months. Total in-store LFLs jumped by an impressive +15.5%, a result of increased footfall ahead of the festive period. Total non-store sales also rose by +5.0% from a base of +7.6% for the same month in 2021, when much of the country went into an unofficial lockdown towards Christmas, as COVID-19 case numbers increased rapidly. Total LFLs climbed by +5.02% and +5.52% in the first two weeks of December over the same weeks in 2021, and in the third week by +9.54%. In the final week (the final day of which was Christmas Day) total LFLs soared by +26.40%, above an already strong base in December 2021. In the final week leading up to Christmas Day sales were boosted by strong in-store LFLs as the snow cleared. The fashion sector drove much of the growth in discretionary spending, with total LFLs climbing by +16.0% from a base of 26.3% in December 2021. It was the highest performing category throughout December, which was the 22nd consecutive positive month for total LFLs. The homewares sector recorded another month of disappointing results. Total LFLs fell by -4.5% in December from a base of +7.4% in 2021, representing the seventh negative monthly result this year. This continued poor performance highlights that consumers have significantly reduced their spending on big ticket items, influenced by the cost-of-living crisis. December saw total LFL sales in the lifestyle category grow by +8.8% from a base of +27.9%, marking its best performance since July. In-store LFLs increased by +10.4% from a base of +38.3%, reflecting a positive performance through December. Sophie Michael, head of Retail and Wholesale at BDO LLP, said: “Although we have seen positive retail sales figures in December, these figures are still running significantly below inflation, which means sales volumes must still be down. “We are also comparing to a period last year when many consumers went into an unofficial lockdown, so retailers may consider this an underwhelming performance, being the first festive season in three years not affected by COVID-19. It is clear that, the cost of living crisis continues to weigh heavily on the appetite for non-essential spending. “Reports in November highlighted that retailers were holding high levels of inventory going into the final month of the festive season, and an expectation therefore that retailers would be encouraging consumers to purchase through high levels of discounting. “While this may have helped retailers to reduce stock holdings, it will come at a cost and undoubtedly have eaten into their margins and profitability. With high inflation on essentials, consumers are unsurprisingly focused on value and showing behaviours of trading down to make their purse travel further. Coming out of Christmas, retailers may struggle to wean their customers off discounts and return to healthier margins. “Food inflation rose to 13.3% in December, higher than CPI, and the higher costs of food will only put further pressure on consumer discretionary spending. These factors and the wider economic landscape are contributing to a gloomy start to the year for retailers, despite the better-than-expected December trading results.”