TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT NextGen healthcare
IHEEM ANNOUNCES NEXTGEN HEALTHCARE NETWORK PARTNERSHIP
The NextGen Healthcare Network is a multi-disciplinary community for healthcare professionals involved in the planning, design, construction, development, and management of healthcare facilities and services.
A
imed at professionals with around 5–15 years of experience,
the network provides a platform for knowledge sharing, professional development, and building meaningful, long-lasting industry connections. We host a variety of events across
the UK, including networking socials, breakfast briefings, panel discussions, site visits, working groups, and industry conferences. Members also have opportunities to contribute to thought leadership, speak at events, and engage with some of the most influential voices shaping the future of healthcare. Whether you’re looking to expand your network, share ideas, or stay informed on the latest trends and challenges in healthcare, the NextGen Healthcare Network offers a welcoming and collaborative space to connect and grow. For more information on upcoming
events and to join our mailing list, visit
www.nextgenhealthcarenetwork.co.uk.
A NEW CONVENING MODEL FOR NHS ESTATES
Monty Jackson PhD, University of Cambridge, research lead at CompliMind, offers insights from the NGHN Energy & Sustainability Working Group
The decarbonisation of NHS estates is often framed as a capital problem: ageing infrastructure, retrofit requirements, and the scale of investment required to meet Net Zero targets. However, discussions within the Next Gen Healthcare Network (NGHN) Energy & Sustainability Working Group over the past year suggest that some of the most immediate constraints are organisational rather than purely technological.
Established in January 2025, the
Scan here for the Next Gen Eventbrite page, or click the link below
www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/next- gen-healthcare-networking- forum-77223082953
Working Group was created following a network-wide event that brought together estates professionals, consultants, digital specialists, and academic partners to identify priority interventions capable of improving energy and sustainability outcomes across the health estate. Rather than functioning as a policy forum, the group adopted an applied focus: identify a widely experienced issue, interrogate it collectively, and assess whether structured collaboration could generate practical insight.
From manual overrides to
system brittleness The group’s initial focus was Building Management System (BMS) manual overrides. Manual intervention in automated HVAC and plant systems was
14 Health Estate Journal August 2026
widely recognised as a persistent issue across Trusts. The early ambition was to explore a pilot intervention within a single Trust to reduce override frequency and improve system utilisation. However, as discussions progressed, the problem statement began to shift. Manual overrides, while visible and measurable, were not necessarily the root cause of BMS underperformance. Instead, they appeared to signal something deeper: system brittleness and underutilisation within a complex, legacy estate. Three related dynamics became apparent. First, BMS underperformance is frequently a capacity constraint. Estates teams are typically structured around statutory compliance and reactive maintenance, rather than proactive digital optimisation. While BMS platforms are capable of advanced scheduling, fault detection, and energy monitoring, confidence in automation is often uneven. In this context, manual overrides can function as pragmatic responses to uncertainty rather than deliberate inefficiency. Second, interoperability challenges are significant but primarily managerial and standardisation-driven rather than purely technical. Many NHS organisations operate multi-generational, multi-vendor BMS
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