NHSE/NHSI ESTATES FORUM
strategies, a new estate definition between ‘core’, ‘flex’, and ‘tail’, and shifting the conversation around the estate from ‘ownership’, to it being more about responsibility for an asset base.” Workforce strategies would, he said, play a key part here, in terms of the Estates and Facilities responses to the Integrated Care Systems, while the Net Zero strategy ‘across systems’ would be a key enabler to succeeding.
Financial sustainability
He told the webinar the eighth and final area of focus was financial sustainability, where for the EFM community, one of the key issues was around capital delivery. Simon Corben said: “Delivery assurance is an area I am really keen to focus on, and outside capital, we will be looking at productivity, and re-launching the Cost Improvement Programme, and leaning back into the metrics we generated through the Carter Programme.” His EFM team was also currently ‘looking at the state of the estate’, with this year’s backlog maintenance figures having ‘knocked the confidence in the accuracy and granularity of the data’. It was vital, he stressed, to ‘provide that confidence’ back into stakeholders such as HM Treasury. The team was also preparing for the next
Spending Review, which he hoped would take place this autumn. He concluded: “I have now discussed our eight core objectives, all of which are underpinned with a focus on reducing health inequalities, and, of course, providing safe, secure estates and facilities for our staff and our patients.”
This concluded his presentation, and Simon Corben said he was happy to take questions.
Pete Sellars thanked the speaker, noting that there were already between 300 and 400 people listening and engaged.
Stresses and strains
Sandra Easton, NHSE/NHSI Director of Operational Finance and Performance.
The IHEEM CEO began with a question of his own, asking – with such a sizeable clinical backlog, large numbers of NHS estates and facilities staff heavily engaged in ‘other activity’ as a result of the pandemic, and many such personnel consequently ‘burnt out’ – what Simon Corben’s message was ‘to the system’. The latter responded: “The complexities, pressures, and stresses and strains, EFM staff have experienced this past year are certainly not ones I have experienced in 30 years of managing people. This is very much a direct consequence of the lone working, the pressure people have been put under at work, and the personal stress COVID has put upon many, in terms of the impact on loved ones and friends and family. As a result we have seen people working extremely hard, with a huge amount of adrenaline pumping through their bodies to ensure they do the right thing, but it is really important that people get downtime, and, as managers, we need to enforce that – because all too often people don’t want to take time off, because they are worried things will drop, and the burden will only grow as a result of the time they have taken away from their work. We, as senior managers, need to properly plan, and think ahead, and make sure we sit down with our teams and pull together proper schedules that allow people to walk away from the office, have some quality time with their families, and recharge their batteries.”
Fiona Daly, National Sustainability and EFM Workforce Lead at NHSE/I.
Publication of new HTMs and HBNs The next question – on a different topic altogether – was when the promised new HTMs and HBNs might realistically be released to the NHS. Simon Corben explained that there had been ‘a clear decision made’ at NHSE about publication of guidance through the pandemic, there having been ‘a real concern’ earlier that there was an overwhelming amount being issued ‘from all parts of the system’, while the ‘frontline’ responded ‘to the challenges of COVID and vaccinations at scale’. He said: “The controls that were put in place were definitely enhanced. Things are now starting to move again, and all the guidance we have been working on for the last 2-3 years is in the hopper, and going through the editorial process. I hope that in the next couple of months we will start seeing those publications released. We have 18 guidance documents currently in train, and the first eight are due for publication within the next few months, and the next 10 thereafter.”
Another audience member asked to what extent publication of the new ventilation HTM, 03-01, might be delayed, especially if amendments needed to be implemented based on lessons learned during the pandemic. Simon Corben said
May 2021 Health Estate Journal 31
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