Sir Peter Gershon was commissioned in 2003 by central government to undertake an independent review to assess how the public sector could exploit opportunities for efficiency savings, so that resources could be released for front-line public service delivery. As a result the Gershon Efficiency programme was about raising productivity and enhancing value for money and efficiency gains were to be achieved through reforms that involved ' Doing the same for less or more for the same'

Healthmatic have the same ethos as Sir Peter, and with the money belts tightening across the country, we are launching our Gershon contract.

All clients working on an annual contract will be offered the opportunity to lock down their costs at an inflation busting rate over the next five years.  This we hope will encourage longer terms stability for both our councils and ourselves in what is clearly going to be a tough time.

 Bring it on! 

Delhi is hosting the Commonwealth Games in October this year, and the excitement in intense in this crazy Indian Capital.  However, following a recent visit, I can confirm that any tourists planning a trip to the Games should consider their lavatory plans!

 Most of the toilets are "open plan" for the men, with small cubicles for the Ladies; doors are very optional; no loo roll, (most are shower or bucket style), and all Public toilets are squats. Its not so much the interior which surprises, but the whole experience.  The heat, the smell, the floors, the sheer dilapidation are all difficult to relate to with our Western Values.  

But the Municipal Delhi Corporation have one aspect right.  This year they will spend over £1m improving their toilets.  They recognise the value that the toilets bring to both the local population and the tourists and have made committments in terms of percentage of budget which dwarf our equivilents.

 Town Criers across the land are now ringing the same note about Public Toilets.

 Probably the most regular call we get at the moment is in relation to Town Councils being handed responsibility for their toilets by the District or Borough.  The obvious theory from the Big Brother Council is "Get then out of my hair" and for the Town they would argue that it gives them more control.  

Towns have a far from universal opinion of this apparent generosity from the Borough.  Often the responsibility comes with no additional money, and a shocking set of toilets which have had no capital expenditure on them for many years.

 In general its not a bad idea though as it focusses local requirements on the local Government.  The theory being that if the Town REALLY want their toilets, they will REALLY fight for them.

However in order to make for a smooth handover, the common problem needs to be addressed:  Cash.   Cash for refurbishment - Cash for Running.

We have seen a number of successful models work for this relationship and handover to flourish, but the one model that seems to be the most successful is the straight Capital payment from Borough/District to Town.  Breckland reportedly gave their Towns £150k.  We have seen a couple of examples of £100k.  These sort of payments give the Town a chance to renovate the block and run it for a couple of years while they get their revenue plans in order.

One thing that we know will not work is handing a poor toilet to the Town with no cash.  That really does get the Town Crying! 

It is already clear to those of us in the business of managing Public Toilets, that 2010 will not be the year that we remember in our dottage as "the year of all years".  Maybe its a Friday afternoon, and maybe I'm feeling a bit blue after a long day, but the fact is that Councils have less money than 2009, or indeed any year that I can remember.

An article on the BBC website  (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7683671.stm ) catches the eye. It highlights the issues around the closure of Public Toilets and the measures being taken by different Councils to deal with the financial constraints.

But, (now rallying),  DON'T despair.  Healthmatic have made a feature of the ability to manage toilets for less cost and with improved performance.  This is achieved through targetting the effort on strategic locations and using research to identify the most effective maintenance and cleaning regimes.

First stop before anybody considers closing a toilet should be to gather evidence, and for this, our specially designed Counters are a valuable tool.  They can help both officers and Councillors identify which toilets are actually being used, as opposed to which they are told are being used.  Check out H2 Evidence counters at http://www.healthmatic.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=164&Itemid=268

Our toilets are tested in all sorts of conditions.  They have been employed in Dubai to help with the Desert Rats, in Newquay to cope with the Drunken Cats, and in the Italian Alps to share with the Mountain Yaks (getting desperate),  but NEVER have we had to cope with  minus 19 degrees before, and Never for over four weeks.

 Yes, some of the older hands in the depots we go to have harked back to '63, the terrific drifting, the never missed a day attitude and "our schools still opened"  chat,  (Its usual to point out that their final  P60 should be in the post), but in the modern era, our equipment has not had to deal with the conditions like this.

 Our engineers have kept going....  and have been sending in a few photos of their toilets in the ice and snow...

Healthmatic win External Contractor of the Year

After a nail biting day at  the motor cycle museum, Healthmatic emerged victorious as the Contractor of the Year for provision of Public Toilets.  Amongst all the glitterati and excitement of the day, it was difficult to keep a lid on the tension as the prizes moved inexorably to the conclusion.  But despite copious wine and spumante, a composed Roger Berry stood, large on the stage, cup in hand, glasses half cocked and gave an emotional acceptance speech which took the crowds up and down through the full gammet of emotions.

We have just launched the new Convenience Coupon Partnership ("CCP")

There is a download available, and we have numerous flyers to send out, but the basic essence is this:

1.  Healthmatic install new toilets into your town for FREE.

2. A charge of 50p per use is levied, BUT the user receives a 50p coupon for the local High Street after washing thier hands.

3. The clean and relieved user then spends the coupon on the High Street.

 Result:  The Town has free toilets, encourages good hygiene and pushes people towards the High Street.

If you would like to know more information about the CCP, please get in touch.

Its not the thing you would usually shout about, but it is still an essential part of any job - the Snagging.  We now have eight new toilets in Reading, some in-builds, some new stand alones, and it is inevitable that there will be the odd minor problem.

This morning Andy, Ramon and myself inspected and checked all the sites with our client, Simon Hollingbery, his manager, Mick Hill, and the project Manager, Ian Nicholls.  Barring the odd door lock issue and a minor discussion over the prescence of SOS flashing lights, the event passed without too many problems.

Bring on the Friday evening Beer!!!

Peter White & Peter Atkins met with me on site this week to help demonstrate the Wessex APC which has recently been installed into Goldsworth Park in Woking.  This toilet had been fire bombed the day before we were due to demonstrate the unit, and both Peters had to work hard to bring the interior up to scratch before the prospective client arrived.

As always, the sun has appeared as School and our Industrial term starts in earnest.  After a week or so of getting ones feet back under the desk, I think that it is time to plan seriously for the next six months.

The first step in planning anything to do with public toilets is to know what you are dealing with.  How many people use the toilet, what type of people, when and how often.

Increasingly, this is not just finger in the air guesswork, but a factual study of toilet numbers over a number of weeks and possibly months.

Once numbers of people have been established, it is possible to make reasonable assumptions about toilet usage under different scenarios and with different configurations.

You can buy counters relatively cheaply, but they will mostly give you a fairly 'cheap' (read: unreliable)   result.  Your alternative might be to rent a battery based counter from Healthmatic, which is web linked to give you times of day/week/month data over the airwaves, without expensive and sometimes unreliable counters being checked by readers.  Our readers will give you a full report on usage, which will form the backbone to any recommendation that you make to your Councillors.

When a Local Authority is considering cutting its toilet Service, one of the most often considered parameters is 'cost per flush'.  In some cases, the Authority will site a very high £ and pence per flush cost to illustrate the point that the toilets are bad value for the Council.

However, I think that this is basically too crude a measure, and the more important stats are the Utility Value per flush.

In the eighteenth Century, a philosopher by the name of Jeremy Bentham set about measuring people's satisfaction from various activities.  The measurement unit he used was a 'Util of Pleasure'.  2 Utilts from a good walk, 4 Utils from a pint of Mead, maybe 10 utils from a roll in the hay.    He also identified the concept of diminishing utils.  Taking the Mead example, the first pint gives him 4 Utils, the second may give him 2, and the third might give him a negative Util as he slips into the land of nod.   We can readily apply this theory to the supply of public toilets.

A toilet positioned on a High Street with hundreds of accesable and decent alternatives within 50m will provide a good service for a user but if it were to disappear, would not cause that much problem.  In this case the utility value of the toilet is low to the user as there are many alternatives.

A toilet in a park with a children's play area presents a different proposition.  The parent and child are playing in the park and they need the loo.  The only toilet in the park is open and gives both users enormous relief.  Their utility value of using this toilet was HIGH.  However it is likely that the cost per use for the Council is also high as the park will only be used at certain times of day and year.

It is important therefore for a Council to value situations not simply on a basic cost per flush basis, but to consider more the 'utils of pleasure' per flush.  The Council can rightly justify a high cost service which brings significant value to a small number of individually important citizens, but cannot justify this where there are ready alternatives for the public.

If you want to know more about this excellent and thoughtful man, please try the link below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Bentham

Yesterday was the UK half Iron Man championship on Exmoor, (www.ironmanuk.com) and on my way to and fro I was able to take in a few of the local sites.  To most normal people of course, the sites would be the Mendips, Glastonbury Tor and maybe a quick look at Wells Cathedral, but when you are in toilets, sites ARE toilets.

The thing that really crosses your mind on Exmoor is how to deal with high numbers of visitors without the access to mains drainage.  Rural homes are fine as they will use their own septic tanks and 'klargesters' to deal with their effluent.  But if you try attaching a public toilet to a septic tank, you will spend your life fishing all sorts of undesirable items out of the system in order to unblock the wishbone.  Similarly a Klargetser which gets severe indigestion at fairly standard toiletries.

^{Its not just the Exmoor ponies that need the toilet}

Those searching for toilets on Exmoor on the web have a doubly confusing issue as there is a well known brand of 'Exmoor Toilet' which is a portaloo.

Overall, most toilets turned out to located near services rendering the issue not a problem.  But alot of the time it was a question of taking the toilets to the services as opposed to taking the toilets to where they were needed.  A conundrum that I am sure alot of Local Authorities face.

In fact it is one of the main issues in installing a toilet, and we spend considerable amount of our time surveying and recommending cost efficient and people efficient locations.  (There being no point in providing brand new facilities in an efficient location, but with no footfall).  Nevertheless, the cost of services can dwarf the cost of new toilet unless carefully controlled, and Healthmatic is very happy to provide this service.

Lucinda Lambton has added to the toilet debate with a feature on Lord Adonis and his train spotting trip around Britain.   Surprise, Surprise, Lord Adonis found that the state of the Nations toilets was below par and in true style, "demanded that something was done".

Community Toilet Schemes are proving all the rage, with some Councils offering up to £2000 to Cafe's and Bars to open their doors to the great unwashed.

Leading the way has been Richmond and Perth & Kinross. 

Starting a scheme from scratch is a time consuming and tough challenge for any officer, both in terms of the meeting and appointing of the prospective premises as well as the upkeep and management of the proposed locations.

In reaction to this,  Healthmatic has appointed a 'CTS originator' whose job is to act as the start up manager for Councils for new schemes, and to help manage existing.  If you need help or simply advice, please contact our office for a chat.

Doors  - We all have problems with them.   For reasons best known to the under sixteens, they prefer to kick their way through them than a more normal, hand on handle, entry approach.  Now this might be down to health issues associated with their hand cleanliness, a worry we all have.  but whatever the reason, it leaves unusable doors across the public space.

 You can approach this in two ways:

1.  Install highly vandal resistant swing doors which are quad hinged, steel cored and multi point locking. There are two further issues with this technique.  Firstly, you need to invest in a really high quality door, as a door with these attributes tend to be quite heavy, and therefore difficult for Disabled visitors to open, especially in windy conditions.  Secondly, in order to gain maximum benefit from the investment, the doors should be attached to a control mechanism which automatically manages the daily opeing and closing, thereby cutting the cost of this expensive service.

2.  Install High specification, steel core, sliding doors.  These have the great benefit of being less liable to vandalism, as quite simply there are no hinges to break.  We install them as standard on our APC's as they also mean we can forcedly open the door in order to encourage abusers to leave. 

Whichever door approach you adopt, we would urge you to consider the benefits of automatic opening and closing of the toilet.  The physical and environmental cost of the opening closing regime every day is difficult to justify in today's envirnment.

Month one of the world most depressing year is almost over!  Recession, unemployment, falling house prices....  , as if you need reminding.

But......people keep C**ping.  Which is good news for the lavatory industry.  In fact we argue to our bank that people generally c**p more in a recession due to to acute nervousness. If everybody keeps eating, we should just about be able to keep our heads above water (or whatever- its the end of the week)

People have more time to sit on the loo...

It is also good news for the website www.findatoilet.co.uk which is building up a database of public toilets around the country.   Sue, the Lady who runs the site, offers a mobile service to anybody who cares to log on.  It compliemts the text-a-loo offering being pioneered by Westminster.

Seriously though, Healthmatic has been specialising over the last six months on cutting Council costs, while improving service.  We are about to publish a note on the subject, but if you cannot waite, please get in touch.

Toilets are going up in the World.  Last night I was lucky enough to be asked as a guest to a City of London dinner.  It was in the Draper's Hall, which was quite magnificent, with over 100 people arranged banquet style in the main hall.

I was there as a guest of Steve Presland, the Director of the Environment for the City, and neither he nor I could believe that pop-up Urilifts reveived no less than two mentions in the main speeches! 

Although I have been receiving the usual spam over this New Year, nothing has topped the Karl Marx quote which has been sent to me by tens of well wishers.

Everybody is in the office for the traditional Beer and Sausage Roll in the Bug & Spider!  Not sure how many of the lads on the road are actually out there unblocking the UK's drains, but there is no evidence of trouble on the Horizon (touch wood).  We are hoping the damp weather will keep spirits in check, and therefore our toilets in actions.  High Spirits= Lots of Booze = lots of Vandalism!

 All we want is a quiet and easy Christmas, where fellow Brits share their toilet systems happily!!  We wish you a great holiday and a happy New Year.

Flush toilets are not bog standard

The lads stepped up to receive another award.  Given that I am not very tall, what was Richard doing?  On his kness?

Christmas is not Christmas without the Loo of the Year annual jamboree.  This year it was held at the Motorbike museum just outside Birmingham.  Healthmatic keenly packed two tables with our colleagues and customers and had the happy result of joining the Champions League for toilet managers.  The massive overall winner slot has continued to allude us.  This year we were sure that our combination of quality loos and brass necked marketing to the toilet inspectors had tipped the balance, but obviously not.  To view the results visit www.loo.co.uk .

There is always next year......

So much is happening in the World of toilets at the moment that it is difficult to know where to start each comment.  No debate rages harder than 'to charge or not to charge'.  Below is our thoughts on the percentage of people that we see wanting to use a public toilet at different prices.  Any thoughts would be welcomed......

We are always in dialogue with Councis on this subject.  We know from countless surveys that the Public, especially tourists, are prepared to pay for the use of clean safe toilets.  However, if they are asked to pay for smelly grotty toilets, then there will be more complaints than would be expected from a free toilet.

The UK Government has published guidelines to Councils on the provision of Public Toilets.  You can read the text in full by checking our downloads, and looking under 'Information Sheets'

 Good Old Government we say!

I was assaulted by a Japanese loo

 We just loved this article from Jeremy Clarkson.

17th June

Th IWM trade show in sunny Torquay was a roaring success and Healthmaitc enjoyed a busy and fruitful time. There were lots of old friends and some new faces too. The weather was set fair and the stand looked glorious in the sunshine. Our fully working Urilift attracted lots of attention as well as plenty of interest in our Automatic and Semi-Auto toilets, although, as usual, we had a few people trying to use the unplumbed loos!

 Our river cruise on the Torbay Belle was a resounding success. There was a much made of Richard Chisnell leaving his post in the BTA and welcoming his successor, Mike Bone. What a fantastic job Richard has done for the organisation over the years. Please click here to watch him in action.

http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/VideoPlayer.aspx?meetingId=1971 

(takes time to come up)http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/VideoPlayer.aspx?meetingId=1901

It is sadly the last year for the IWM in Torquay, next year we will see you for another cracking event in London.

Our magnificant stand in sunny Torquay.

The Urilift man, Marco standing tall on his 40th birthday! 

Richard Chisnell receiveing a toilet clock, just what he always wanted!

Torbay Belle Fever!

Just because you have the resources to build the world's first toilet-shaped house doesn't mean that you should. Then again, if you happen to be Sim Jae-duck, the chairman of the organizing committee of the Inaugural General Assembly of the World Toilet Association, you may have an interest in such a thing. And a guy with a title that long deserves to get his way.

The Japanese equivalent of 'You've been framed' showing some serious pop up toilets, click on the link to watch!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=zDxmws9vDRM

Early 20th Century Outhouse, preserved at a ghost town in the Arizona Desert.

A three-seater outside toilet in Kent has been listed as a building of special architectural and historical importance. The oak bolthole, beside a farmhouse in Benenden, was built in 1775 and was still being used into the 1960s.
The Grade II-listed privy has two full-size seats and a child-size one.

A man whose girlfriend spent two years in a bathroom and was found stuck to a toilet has been charged with mistreating her.

Pam Babcock, 35, had been sitting on the loo so long the seat adhered to her bottom, authorities in Kansas believe.

Her boyfriend Kory McFarren, 37, has been charged with mistreatment of an adult.

He called the local sheriff's office last month to say something was wrong with his girlfriend. When police arrived they found her stuck to the toilet, which they think she had sat on for about a month.

Mr McFarren said Ms Babcock feared leaving the bathroom and may not have left it in two years, although he was unsure how long she was in there.

He said he took her food and water daily, and that he repeatedly asked her to come out but that she usually replied: 'Maybe tomorrow'.