THE NEW HOSPITAL PROGRAMME
‘Taking time out of’ hospital construction will be key
On the first day of last October’s Healthcare Estates 2023 conference, Natalie Forrest, the Senior Responsible Owner for the Programme, gave an update on progress with the New Hospital Programme. She also discussed the principles behind, and anticipated benefits of, Hospital 2.0 – a national approach to delivering new hospitals more quickly, at a lower cost, and with greater taxpayer value. Following her Manchester address, she was also among a number of high-level NHP speakers at an Autumn Market briefing held in London on 9 November, aimed principally at suppliers. HEJ editor, Jonathan Baillie, reports.
Natalie Forrest’s early afternoon keynote speech on 10 October was immediately followed by an interesting address from clinical planner and global healthcare consultant, Suzanne MacCormick, in which she discussed some of the key sensory elements shown in studies to make for optimal staff and patient environments (see pages 31-36 for a report). Presenting in the first ‘half’ of a
two-part conference ‘slot’, Natalie Forrest was introduced to delegates by IHEEM Past-President, Paul Fenton. The Senior Responsible Owner for the NHP, who took up the role in January 2021, is a highly experienced former nurse, with a BA in Nursing from Sheffield Hallam University, and a Master of Science in Health Services Management. Before joining the NHP team she also served as Interim CEO and COO at West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust, Director for Service Transformation at Barnet & Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust, and Chief Executive Officer at Chase Farm Hospital.
A multitude of schemes She began with a little background on the New Hospital Programme: “For those of you unfamiliar with it,” she explained, “we have a multitude of schemes – 40 in all – and a systematic way to
‘‘
deliver them by 2030 across England, including addressing the issues hospitals incorporating reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) are facing. We are set up as a centralised programme to deploy a systematic approach – including
Our strategy is about changing the way we deliver healthcare infrastructure for the NHS, so we can build many more hospitals concurrently… through industrialisation and setting out new standards to take time out of the process, and to be able to manufacture the components and bring them to site and assemble these hospitals
Senior Responsible Owner for the New Hospital Programme, Natalie Forrest, is a former nurse.
developing a common set of design principles – including Modern Methods of Construction.” Key to the Programme’s success, she said, was ‘the development and application of a common commercial and procurement strategy to achieve economies of scale and mitigate supply chain constraints’.
Hospital 2.0 The NHP speaker went on to explain, accordingly, that Hospital 2.0 – the second focus of her presentation – was the New Hospital Programme team’s ‘response to the things we know we could do across the NHS infrastructure in a completely different, or better, way’. “So,” she said, “it’s about learning from all the expertise in this conference centre and across healthcare and infrastructure. We know that, currently, it can take an
Natalie Forrest
incredibly long time to get a business case approved for a multi-million, and in some cases, billion pound, project.” In fact, she explained, on average it currently took around six years. While some schemes were approved faster, those which took six years or more to gain approval left communities desperately in need of a new healthcare facility with significant problems. She said: “So, we’re committed to changing this, and to reducing that timeframe quite significantly, i.e. by a number of years.” Hospital 2.0 was also ‘about standard design’. Natalie Forrest explained: “I believe many think it is just about standardisation. Standardisation is indeed one of the key requirements for us to be able to deliver these hospitals much quicker than we do currently. Our
January 2024 Health Estate Journal 57
Courtesy of Healthcare Estates 2023
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88
