NATIONAL EFM POLICY AND STRATEGY
Darby Hayhurst and Dylan Lucas from Royal Blackburn Hospital won the title of NHS National Chef of the Year 2023 on 2 November. Now in its third year, NHS Chef is ‘on an upward trajectory’.
Corben what impact he thinks the new Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) will have on the running and operation of the healthcare estate? He said: “I think they’ll have a holistic portfolio view of the assets, and will look to ensure better asset utilisation, and care being provided where we think it should be. We also hope the workforce can be effectively deployed across ICSs, and are keen to become more far corporate in managing our assets, harnessing a ‘Core, Flex and Tail’ approach.” The ‘Core’ element, Simon Corben
explained, is ‘the highly technical estate that we need to own, maintain, and invest in’, and the ‘Flex’, the estate that is ‘transient and flexible, where services can be moved in and out, and where ownership is not a priority’. He added: “The ‘Tail’ is the estate surplus to requirements that we can either redeploy or dispose of.” I asked him whether he thought healthcare estates and healthcare engineering personnel’s vital role in keeping healthcare facilities running smoothly and safely was finally gaining the recognition it deserves – particularly among Trusts’ senior management teams and Boards.
Changing the narrative He replied: “I think, fortunately, that there’s never been such a focus on estates and facilities, the condition of our healthcare buildings, and what the EFM community does. We’ve also changed the narrative of pushing problems under the carpet.
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Simon Corben with Lord Markham at the Chef’s Table event at the House of Commons in September.
People are calling out that we can’t operate in these environments, and need to influence change. Bulding condition- wise, everybody is aware of the need for investment, while as far as the EFM workforce is concerned, in high pressure situations our staff have shown they really come to the fore. COVID really shone a light on the profession, and how well staff performed in such a challenging situation. I will forever be immensely proud of what the Estates and Facilities community did, and continues to do, but for others not normally so close to the sector, Estates personnel’s dedication shone a true light on the value of their work.” I wondered what Simon Corben thought
the key factors behind the growing estates maintenance backlog, and the poor condition of some healthcare buildings, were. He replied: “I don’t think people have properly appreciated the need to maintain assets to ensure they last the required timespan. Equally, we’re still operating in buildings well past their ‘sell by date’, so that becomes difficult. We are now putting considerable focus into ensuring that when business cases come forward, the lifecycle cost is protected.” Without limitless funds, I imagined the
key was to focus on the buildings with the highest risk ratings. Simon Corben said his team is ‘trying to put a little bit more science behind this’. He added: “I was delighted when the Health Secretary last summer called the NHP ‘a rolling programme’. We have to ensure that
By the end of 2023/24, Estates teams will have delivered productivity savings of £1.375 bn against a Carter target of £1.275 bn. In addition, Estates teams have reduced non-clinical space in NHS buildings by 26.1% – from 44% in 2015/2015 to 32.6% in 2021/2022. Much of this space has been converted into core clinical space
the next wave of hospitals to be rebuilt comes forward, and that investment is apportioned in a way that ensures that the Trusts with the built assets most in need of renewal are prioritised.”
Attracting new recruits As IHEEM is aware, the sector’s ageing profile, and ensuring effective succession planning, are pressing issues, so I asked Simon Corben what particular ‘selling points’ of a career in healthcare estates management / healthcare engineering he would highlight most when seeking ‘new blood’. He said: “Well, I’ve spoken at a couple of schools in exactly this space, as has Fiona Daly (National Deputy Director of Estates), and other members of my team. When I discuss estates and facilities I’m always able to show students so many different options they can have in a career in the field. We offer a really exciting and progressive safe start, and need to emphasise this. Our NHS Chef competition has been hugely successful, and the National EFM Day has proven a real opportunity to showcase EFM teams work, so I’m hugely grateful to IHEEM and the other engineering bodies for initiating and supporting it. There is a great career in estates and facilities, and it appeals to a broad range of people.” I wondered what he felt IHEEM had
Simon Corben
most notably contributed to the drive to attract more EFM professionals. He said: “The Institute has done a great job – for example in the Faraday Challenge programme and others. I think what we need to do, however, is to put such initiatives on steroids. We’ve run the NHS Estates and Facilities Apprenticeship Challenge in the last two years – the aim is to create 1000 apprenticeship starts in a given year. That has been huge, but we need to scale all this up. People like IHEEM and HEFMA need to be in schools, showcasing the worlds of estates and facilities.” My next question related to the impact of the pandemic, and the many ways it
January 2024 Health Estate Journal 41
Courtesy of NHS England
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