EFM POLICY AND STRATEGY IN WALES


Better integration of health and social care a priority


Stuart Douglas became Director of Specialist Estates Services (SES), part of NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership (NWSSP), just over a year ago, having been Deputy Director since August 2022. HEJ editor, Jonathan Baillie, recently met up with him by ‘Teams’ to find out more about his career, and discuss some of the most pressing issues facing the healthcare estate management and healthcare engineering community across the Principality, and his thoughts on future challenges and opportunities for the sector in Wales.


Beginning an interesting discussion, Stuart Douglas explained that he took over as Director, NWSSP SES on 1 March 2023, following Neil Davies’s retirement. He said: “Neil was a very-well known and highly respected leader of NWSSP SES. He was also six feet nine tall, so I knew I had some big boots to fill – literally and metaphorically – when I took up the job.” A quantity surveyor by background,


Stuart Douglas explained that in the mid-1980s he worked in construction consultancy roles in the retail sector. However, when this work contracted later that decade, his focus shifted to work in the public services arena. He said: “I became especially fascinated with development on hospital sites, and was also keen to broaden my project management


experience. I had previously worked in a multidisciplinary design practice, and later at health focused-practices, where I developed my love of working in healthcare.” As his project management skills burgeoned, he increasingly found himself talking to heads of departments and disciplines, discovering how they worked, and helping them plan new or rationalised facilities. He said: “I absolutely loved it; I was effectively being paid to learn. I then became more involved in developing wider strategic plans.”


Experience in the mental healthcare sector In 1995, he joined mental healthcare services provider, Bath Mental Healthcare NHS Trust: “Bath Mental Healthcare was initially host to a shared service of Project Managers and Property Advisors called Capitec, which was later absorbed into NHS Estates and launched as ‘Inventures’ – a national estates consultancy service,” he explained. From 2004-2018 he ran his own estates and facilities strategic advice consultancy – undertaking gateway reviews, estates strategies, and business cases, and taking on planning and delivery of major capital project and programmes. Travelling extensively throughout England


Stuart Douglas feels the important role played by healthcare engineers and healthcare estates and facilities personnel in running and maintaining healthcare facilities is at last gaining recognition.


and Wales, he kept in contact with Pat Riordan (NWSSP SES Deputy Director, Strategic Planning and Construction) and Neil Davies (then Director) at NWSSP SES, and they commissioned him to write the project team duties for the original Design for Life Building for Wales Framework. He said: “That educated me about how projects would be delivered in Wales.” Joining NWSSP SES as Head of Estates


Development in 2018, he rapidly integrated into the team providing advice to Welsh Government and health organisations across the nation – which remains a key activity for him today. In August 2022 he was promoted to Deputy Director and Chief Estates Advisor to Welsh Government, to support the Director in overseeing delivery of the full portfolio of SES services, becoming Director in February 2023. He has an Honours Degree in Quantity Surveying, a Postgraduate Diploma in Leadership, is a Chartered Quantity Surveyor, a Member of the Association for Project Management, and an NHS Estates Accredited Project Director for major development schemes in the NHS.


Leaving his consultancy Of his decision to leave consultancy work, he said: “I’d been privileged to have a very broad level of involvement, working with NHS Trusts and Health Boards across England and Wales, and on joining NWSSP SES this stood me in excellent stead. There was a broad and interesting mix of issues to address – from scrutinising business cases and estate strategies, to coordinating provision of advice from the various specialist disciplines.” He continued: “My current role is varied. One minute I can be working directly on schemes of a few hundred thousand pounds, and the next I may be looking at national estates policy issues, or advising on plans for investing over £1 bn in new facilities. It’s all about balancing the apportionment of my own and my team’s time. We have a team of 50+ spread


March 2024 Health Estate Journal 23


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