Inpatient Accommodation
encouraged to use the standardised components as a baseline for component specification, while the ProCure21+ Principal Supply Chain Partners (PSCPs) will adopt these proposals as their baseline specification for calculation of the Guaranteed Maximum Price on all schemes. I am keen to emphasise, however, that clients are free to use their own choices of design and components under the ProCure21+ framework, provided they are demonstrably at least as efficient as those set out under the Standardisation initiative.
Figure 4: The standardisation initiative has been embedded within the ProCure21+ framework, which invites the client to engage with the standardisation process at the earliest stage, to maximise efficiencies.
NOT JUST COST SAVINGS My team and I are, however, keen to emphasise that savings achieved via the use of the repeatable room designs and standardised components are not just related to capital; there is a range of savings and efficiencies achievable, relating to all kinds of operational issues from patient, staff, and visitor perspectives. These include: • Improvements in patient and staff safety – a known layout or type of component enables both patients and clinicians to focus on health rather than navigation or usability, and enables staff to transfer between departments easily.
• Savings in construction times – lessons learned are embedded into the process, and bespoke costs avoided. Standard components are easier and faster to fit, and lack of variability leads to higher quality of workmanship, fewer defects, and better usability.
• Savings in procurement and programme time, and reduction of programme risk – assurance of design and costings reduces risk allowance, and speed to market is dramatically reduced, leading to overall delivery timescale reductions.
• Improvements in clinical and service function time, due to greater levels of staff efficiency, together with a positive impact on duration and quality of scheduled maintenance programmes.
EMBEDDED WITHIN PROCURE21+ The standardisation initiative has been embedded within the ProCure21+ framework – once a PSCP is selected and the planning and design process begins, contractual documentation within the framework invites the client to engage with the standardisation process at the earliest stage to maximise efficiencies (see Fig. 4). However, whether or not a client is engaged with ProCure21+, it is essential to consider the designs early in the life of a scheme. Alan Kondys, framework director of ProCure21+ PSCP Integrated Health Projects, says: “There is an optimum point for deriving
28 THE NETWORK April 2015
best value from the Standardisation programme, whether or not the client has appointed a PSCP yet. In truth, the PSCP is the best channel for exploring the value of standardisation on a scheme, because they are all trained and familiar with the processes and benefits – but it is absolutely necessary to embed standardisation as a concept at the very early stages of planning, so that designs do not advance so far that it becomes cost-prohibitive to re-work them to incorporate standardisations’ benefits.” He points out that all the designs and necessary material are available via StandardShare, adding: “Even if a client wants to embark on the early planning and design stages without engaging a PSCP, the material is all there to embed standardisation from the earliest point.”
STRONG SUPPORT Support for the Standardisation initiative is strong within ProCure21+, and NHS clients are enthusiastic about the benefits, says Richard Venables, associate commercial director of ProCure21+ PSCP Interserve. The PSCPs are conducting a training programme aimed at enfranchising clients and promoting the benefits of standardisation throughout the supply chain. Richard Venables says the whole process is ‘a journey, a change of mindset, and thinking slightly differently’, adding: “In construction, it is commonplace to waste some commodity on a project – be it time, cost, or risk allowance – because it hasn’t been properly evaluated as an optimum solution. With the repeatable rooms and standardised components, we can say with confidence to clients that this is an evidence-based solution that is the sum of the best possible practice known in a specific area – and it saves time and programme resource too.”
NOT MANDATORY, BUT ENCOURAGED Use of the Repeatable Rooms and Standardised Components is not mandatory for the NHS, even under ProCure21+; there are no contractual obligations to purchase, and no minimum value /quantity requirements. However, NHS clients undertaking capital construction schemes in the acute sector are
SAVINGS EXCEED EXPECTATIONS The Repeatable Rooms and Standardised Components initiative will enable ProCure21+ to deliver and even exceed the 14% savings required by the Government Construction Strategy. Already, savings from standardised components’ use alone have exceeded £1m. We are delighted to note these significant savings – they indicate widespread NHS acceptance of the principle of standardisation.
MOVING FORWARD Work on the Standardisation initiative has progressed beyond the acute and mental health sectors to the Emergency Department, where acuity-adaptable rooms and chair-centric spaces are currently being developed in conjunction with experts, ready for a rigorous testing process. In his cross-Government construction
advisory role, Peter Hansford holds up the healthcare sector as an example to other public sector construction when he says: “It is clear to me that the ProCure21+ Repeatable Rooms and Standardised Components initiative shows that the healthcare sector is working together in a coherent, imaginative way to achieve the necessary efficiencies in capital construction, and I applaud the work being done.” All Repeatable Rooms designs and details of Standardised Components can be found on the ProCure21+ Club website at
www.procure21plus.nhs.uk/club, using the ProjectShare (repeatable room designs) and StandardShare (standardised components). Guidance on the use of standardisation can also be found on the Club website, under the Guidance tab.
About the author
David Kershaw is the jointly appointed P21+ PSCP programme director, charged with implementing a framework-specific cost reduction programme. He leads small integrated teams tasked with developing evidence-based repeatable room arrangements and selecting standardised components that reduce the capital cost of construction – to meet the Government’s Construction Strategy targets, while also improving patient outcomes.
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