Property security
for six months would cost around £1.6 million. This includes the cost of boarding up, changes to insurance, and the cost of security personnel. Such a level of expenditure is far from ideal given that the majority of NHS Trusts are looking to make savings. Pressures are being placed on every part of the NHS to make savings. Regardless of the current parliament promising £8 bn a year, the NHS is being asked to make £22 bn in efficiency savings to plug the predicted shortfall of £30 bn by 2020. Such savings do not just end on the wards; improving efficiency and decreasing staff levels is just the
beginning. When entire hospitals are encouraged into a programme of efficiency measures, it becomes necessary to make cuts – in extreme cases this means closing an entire hospital. The expense of keeping these sites secure and sustained while the deficit is reduced can result in a massive financial burden. Finding an alternative solution can reduce costs by up to 90%. Recently, former Minister of State for Community and Social Care, Norman Lamb, told officials to look at what revenue could be raised from selling off ‘hospitals standing empty’ and ‘vacant land’. Senior health officials estimate that under-used
NHS estate across England – including old hospital sites and defunct Victorian buildings – could raise £7.5 bn if sold off to developers for housing and other purposes. However, while the process of selling off surplus property is implemented, a cost-effective security solution is imperative to maximise on the return of selling these buildings.
Unwanted visitors Vacant buildings are regularly targeted for illegal occupation (squatters), and in all cases damage and vandalism occurs when these properties are taken over. In some cases this may be by a single individual, but, in the majority of cases where large properties become vacant, mass groups of squatters target a property. Due to the size of the facilities, and the space available, as many as 200 individuals have been found living in disused offices and hospitals at any one time. In September 2012, section 144 of the
LASPO (The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012) made it a criminal offence to trespass in residential properties with the intention of living there. Squatting remains ‘legal’ for non-residential buildings – meaning that the police are in no way required to remove or prosecute individuals for trespassing and staying in non-residential property, including hospitals. The point at which the police may intervene is when criminal activity is known to be taking place. To remove an individual or individuals from a non-residential property, the owners must raise this as a civil matter with the courts, which can be a lengthy and costly process.
On deciding that a number of administrative and medical buildings would be ‘wound down’, Kent & Medway NHS & Social Care Partnership Trust decided to install 10 property guardians into the vacant buildings.
62 Health Estate Journal September 2016
Protection before damage is done Protecting a property from illegal occupation before the damage is done is the most effective method, the initial solution being to deploy traditional security methods. Regular, if not permanent, security measures must be installed – namely security guards. When NHS North Central London (now Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust) was faced with a programme of closures and refurbishments, voids across a swathe of London boroughs were at high risk, and had been protected by metal sheeting and manned security patrols with mixed results, but all at high cost, including that of expensive remedial works. In some areas notorious for vandalism and illegal occupation, a proactive strategy that involved installing property guardians into the properties provided a cost- effective and highly satisfactory solution. “Installing property guardians prevents criminality, and squatting, saves me the time and cost of having to rectify problems that occur when vacant buildings are
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