NHSE/NHSI ESTATES FORUM
“Although things now seem to be settling, we still have 6,000 patients in beds, and 1,000 in ICUs, so we are by no means through this storm.” While ‘Wave 1’ had been ‘all about capacity and kit’ – the development of the Nightingale hospitals, obtaining oxygen supplies, and PPE, to ‘get resilience into the system’, Wave 2 had, he said, ‘been about’ elements including maintaining oxygen availability, dealing with (larger volumes of) clinical waste, and ‘business as usual’. Staff fatigue had also been a key factor. Simon Corben said: “Had we not been planning the way that we did through Wave 1, we certainly couldn’t have coped with Wave 2 in terms of the increased capacity we needed for COVID patients, and the draw that had on the oxygen infrastructure. A huge ‘thank you’ to all involved.”
Today, however, he said, it was ‘about a slightly different workstream’ – concluding the oxygen works, and reducing the clinical waste backlog, as well as formally decommissioning the Nightingale hospitals. Meanwhile, the number of COVID cases had started to fall considerably, and the vaccine programme was ‘in full flight’, with over 22 million vaccinations already administered (as of the week of the webinar in mid-March) to the public, via ‘a mixture of estates solutions’ (premises-wise) – ‘yet another incredible achievement from the EFM personnel and their professional expertise across the NHS and wider industry’.
Supporting ‘our NHS people’ Simon Corben said: “The next core objective I will discuss is around supporting our NHS people. All of you in the estates and facilities profession have demonstrated your usual tenacity, can- do-attitude, spirit of ‘always being there’, and resilience in times of a crisis. Our relationship with other professionals across the NHS is now very much one of ‘one team’. It’s been truly impressive to see the way MDTs have worked collectively to ensure safe delivery of oxygen in an appropriate and planned manner. It’s provided a fantastic foundation for our Workforce Strategy – at the core of which will be increasing both diversity and quality of opportunity.”
Simon Corben said it was important not to overlook the impact that working to provide services throughout the pandemic had had on staff. He said: “Speaking both for my own and the wider team, the staff are fatigued; this has taken its toll, and we need to ensure, as senior managers, that our teams have the opportunity of downtime and leave.”
‘Transformation’
The fourth ‘core area of focus’ for NHSE/ NHSI, the Head of Profession explained, was ‘transformation’. He asked: “But where do we begin here? Is it about embracing
30 Health Estate Journal May 2021
Prerana Issar, NHS Chief People Officer, was among the other speakers.
Edward Argar, Minister of State for Health.
‘digital’ and the lessons learned from COVID; the dramatic changes we saw in primary care through digital appointments; the new hospital programme, and the new way of delivering capital at pace in a standard form and as a single programme, or about the NHS Long Term Plan; my team is now starting to review that, and see other ‘Estates’ areas where we can move faster as a result of COVID-related lessons.” Simon Corben said one area he would particularly like to explore was the challenges his team had set themselves around non-clinical space, and the proportion of the workforce now working at home – and how his team could ‘re- deploy that asset base’. He told the webinar: “As to primary care, while the new hospital programme focuses on ‘acute’, it is important that both primary care and mental health see significant investment going forward. They are a key enabler to an improved patient pathway, and much of the national health estate here is tired and in need of replacement.” “Other areas we are keen to drive forward,” he added, “include the ‘tech standards’ – the Food Review, the new Cleaning Standards, and other documents we are looking to release later on this year.
“Of course all the above now come with the ‘Net Zero’ wrapper; this needs to be at the forefront of all our conversations.”
Long waiting lists
The fifth core objective was ‘the non- COVID and elective care recovery’ – ‘the next key challenge’ for both the NHSE/ NHSI EFM team, and the wider NHS. One key current priority was for the NHS EFM team to get their planned preventative maintenance done ‘before the system starts to really uptick in activity, to ensure systems don’t fail’. He said: “The last thing we need is a situation where systems, theatres, and other key single points of failure, are overrun and fail as a release of increased capacity activity. I would encourage you all to speak to your clinicians and understand the plans they have in terms of that activity increase.”
Urgent and emergency care Simon Corben’s next area of focus was ‘urgent and emergency care’. He expanded: “While we were dealing with COVID, we also had a significant capital allocation into urgent and emergency care. We are part way through that programme, and need to conclude it, but we also need to improve the throughput and patient pathways, working closely with our colleagues in infection prevention and control, and to be prepared for winter pressures, plus a potential third wave of the coronavirus, coupled with a drive to reduce the backlog. There will be a significant amount of work going on throughout the autumn, but this links back to my point earlier about ensuring that staff get some downtime to re-charge.”
Turning to the sixth NHSE/NHSI EFM team core objective, the proposed integrated Health & Social Care Bill, Simon Corben said a White Paper had been published on this a fortnight previously. He said: “My Estates team is already assisting with developing the guidance, but key areas I see us being involved in include the next generation of estate
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