HEALTHCARE ESTATES 2024 KEYNOTES “The third challenge is equality and diversity,” Fiona


Daly explained. “I know Simon (Corben) touched on this yesterday, but we are really lagging behind our peers. Just 11% of our workforce come from a BAME background, and we’re way behind with females. In fact, females overrepresent our workforce, but tend often to be in lower bands. Aware that we’ve got some ceilings, and that some of them are around things we can influence, we will really focus on these – especially in our upcoming ED&I goals document. We also need to encourage under-25s into our workforce, and to stay with us once part of it.” Fiona Daly noted that the previous day’s conference


had included ‘some really good talks about how we can think about encouraging people into careers – and not always through the most traditional routes’. She said: “There were presentations about registration, and ensuring that its value is properly understood. Some people will take that on, and feel it’s key to them, while others want a more ‘practical’ career – such as an apprenticeship degree where they can apply practically what they’re learning. Others want to go through an academic route, and we’ve been doing a lot of work in schools.” This had included working with ‘Inspiring the future’ (‘the flagship service’ of the Education and Employers charity, which ‘connects workplace volunteers with schools and colleges to broaden children and young people’s horizons, raise their aspirations, and increase their motivation to learn’.)


People with disabilities Fiona Daly added: “The most petrifying thing I do is stand up in front of 16-year-olds and say: ‘Come and work in estates and facilities in the NHS, it is brilliant.’ “ She also acknowledged the need to increase the number of people with disabilities, and people declaring disabilities, and those of varying sexual orientation, within the NHS Estates & Facilities workforce. Finishing her address on ‘the fourth challenge’ – around pay, she said: “Having heard you loud and clear from the beginning, we’ve been doing a lot of work around pay, for example submitting written evidence to the Pay Review Body for the first time ever – which we are really hoping will have a positive outcome.” The NHSE speaker said some of the hardest staff to retain when it came to competitive pay levels were those in chef and cleaning operative roles. She added: “Another area where we have really extensive pay disparity between the NHS and the private sector is in our engineering roles, so we’re focusing on these three role types to begin with. We’ll be formally putting our evidence to the Pay Review Body in December.” Here, Fiona Daly concluded her presentation, and Nigel Keery thanked her, before introducing the session’s third speaker, Tina Johne, of Siemens AG Healthcare. She began: “Perhaps I can share some insight into how


a technology company is responding to these workforce challenges, and give you a little inspiration.” Tina Johne said healthcare was ‘at the centre of a perfect storm’. She elaborated: “We’ve already heard about the ageing healthcare engineering workforce, but a similar trend applies with patients. On reaching 60, people begin creating more pressure on the healthcare system – and one can only imagine – looking at the figures, what impact the ageing demographic will have on future healthcare provision. Nor is there any obvious plan on how we address this. For instance, where will we get all the healthcare workers we need to provide care to these individuals?” She continued: “Sustainability is something near and dear to both Siemens and the wider healthcare sector, which generates nearly 5% of global CO2


emissions.


Alongside workforce challenges and providing care to more patients, there is considerable pressure on the


January 2025 Health Estate Journal 33


healthcare sector to help achieve our Net Zero targets.” Tina Johne said there was widespread hope that


growing digitalisation would help achieve this goal – both workforce-wise and when it came to sustainability. “Siemens serves the healthcare sector from several different angles – one key one being ‘smart infrastructure’. – the area I’m representing here today,” she told delegates. “Siemens Healthineers, meanwhile, delivers medical equipment for diagnosis and therapy support, while Siemens Financial Services and Advanta offer consulting and financial services to the sector. Siemens Healthineers alone employs 70,000, while on the Siemens AG side – of which smart infrastructure, SFS, and Advanta are part, the business employs 320,000 staff globally.”


Serving healthcare ‘on various levels’ Tina Johne said this ‘very large organisation’ serves and supports healthcare provision on various levels – including clinical and hospital operation, and building technology – ‘helping healthcare providers digitise their operations, and consequently become more productive and achieve the required sustainability goals’. She said: “The ageing population and workforce are impacting us across the business, like everybody else. Given the need to digitise our operations to overcome some of these obstacles and address demand for greater sustainability, there is considerable pressure to equip the workforce globally with greater ‘green skills’.”


Tina Johne gave a perspective on some of the key workforce challenges for Siemens AG personnel serving the healthcare sector.


Fiona Daly, Director of Sustainability and Workforce, and National Deputy Director of Estates at NHS England, explained that when NHSE published its NHS estates workforce action plan, she and her team had said they would focus on four areas – ‘Equality and Diversity’, ‘Developing our people’, ‘Building the next generation’, and ‘Improving the health and wellbeing of our people’.


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