NHSE/NHSI ESTATES FORUM
more ‘joined-up’ immediate work ‘on the ground’, but, equally, collaborative national leadership was vital to make health infrastructure challenges a priority going forward. He said: “We need all the national players from the NHS estate in the same room – albeit currently ‘virtually’.” The Strategic Infrastructure Board was ‘the place for national partners to work collaboratively to guide that future vision of the NHS estate’, as he put it, ‘to raise our eyes beyond the horizon of the day-to-day challenges to look a decade or more into the future’. The Minister said many of the issues that webinar participants would be discussing today were ‘the same ones we have been grappling with’. He elaborated: “We have also carried out a ‘Lessons learned’ exercise on the COVID-19 pandemic; we want to understand its impact on our priorities for estates and capital, and to use the learnings to consider what is on the horizon for health and social care infrastructure.” This work had clearly highlighted the opportunity ‘to refresh and evolve our strategic approach to NHS infrastructure’. He explained: “When the Board met in February, we set out what more we could do – for instance to maximise opportunities for integration to deliver better value for money, and more personalised care; how we can make better use of data to remodel the estate and drive increased efficiency, and how we can champion the unsung heroes in Estates, Finance, and Facilities, who have performed such amazing work during this crisis.”
A key leadership role
On ‘the topic of leadership’, Edward Argar expressed his thanks to ‘another champion of the NHS estate, and of taking the strategic view’ – Sir Robert Naylor. His ‘landmark review’ had led to the formation of the NHS Property Board, ‘a critical first step in ensuring that the estate receives the attention it deserves as an enabler of care’, and he had led the estates agenda ‘with skill, diligence, and an unmatched level of expertise’. “He has challenged us where necessary, tirelessly championing both the estate and its workforce, and, crucially, driving that long-term view,” Edward Argar explained. As Sir Robert ‘stepped out’ of his official role within the Department, the Minister said he was sure all in the healthcare EFM community would join him in expressing deep gratitude to him for all he had done to lay such firm foundations ‘for an exciting new phase for the NHS estate’.
A coherent strategy
The speaker elaborated: “That new phase is focused on a coherent strategy for how we can invest in our infrastructure in the most effective and joined-up way. In 2019 we set our new strategic approach to
buildings the service operates from.” He added: ““Before COVID we knew the elements that would make our strategy successful – standardised design through Modern Methods of Construction, listening to clinicians, and designing clinical spaces reflecting what those personnel know they need to do their job.” Equally vital, the speaker said, was ‘effective use of technology, hard-wired in as standard’, and ‘an unwavering commitment to achieving Net Zero Carbon across the whole NHS’.
Agility and flexibility
Natalie Forrest, previously Chief Executive of Chase Farm Hospital, was recently appointed to lead the Government’s plans to build 40 new hospitals by 2030.
improving our hospitals and health infrastructure with the publication of the Health Infrastructure Plan.” All would, however, ‘be familiar with the historic challenge’ – a burst of activity and investment, such as the hospital building programme of the early 2000s, followed by a ‘stop-start’, mitigating against the long-term view, and which could see the expertise built up in delivering the programme lost to the NHS. The Minister said: “HIP seeks to remedy this, setting out a long-term plan of investment over multiple years, allowing the NHS to plan for the future, and to predict and see that pipeline of investment.” The last few years had already seen ‘a significant investment’ – from the allocation of £600 m for a Critical Infrastructure Fund to resolve the most urgent NHS estate issues, to the Prime Minister and Secretary of State’s announcement of £850 m to upgrade 20 hospitals, and £3.7 bn in the first tranche of ‘HIP’ to help deliver 40 new hospitals by 2030. The Minister added: “We’ve also provided funding to eradicate mental health dormitories, and to upgrade A&Es this past winter to expand capacity and improve infection control. These have all made a huge difference to the NHS, and with many of these programmes and projects now delivered, all the Trust Estates teams working on them have risen to the challenge to see that investment gets to the frontline, and delivers benefits for patients.”
‘Refreshing the strategy’ What was now key, said Edward Argar, was to ‘refresh this strategy’, and to ‘set an even clearer direction’ that reflected the lessons learned since COVID-19. He said: “In the Victorian era, town halls were symbols of civic pride, and in many ways hospitals occupy a similar place in our culture today, with our pride in the NHS reflected in the respect and awe in which we hold those who work in it, and the respect and values we attribute to the
The Minister added: “Recent months, however, have also brought into clear focus critical issues like agility and flexibility in controlling infection, so we must work together to evolve the framework to ensure it reflects and balances all these critical elements as we move forward – working at pace, setting clear standards, and embracing the vital role that health infrastructure plays more broadly in our communities.” He emphasised that it was not only acute settings that needed to be considered, but also the opportunities presented by primary care facilities in the community, to, as he put it, ‘play a key role, symbiotically, with councils and others, delivering regeneration in their high streets, to work together both in delivering vital services, and driving that regeneration’.
‘Refreshed’ HIP set for publication Later this year, the Department of Health & Social Care would be publishing a ‘refreshed version’ of the Health Infrastructure Plan, setting the strategic direction for all aspects of the Department’s capital and infrastructure, with the NHS ‘at its heart’. The Minister was keen that, rather than ‘re-inventing the wheel’, the strategy should instead ‘evolve and build on the great work already done, but take into account the past year’s learnings’. He said: “We will thus bring together our existing commitments and strategies to give the sector, including Estates & Facilities and Finance professionals, a clear vision and set of priorities to work towards over the next 10 years.” The updated ‘HIP’ would, he said, ‘set the direction’ in a wide variety of areas – such as the strategy for new hospitals and hospital upgrades, including the standards the DH&SC would expect in these projects, the direction of travel in the primary care estate – including getting the most out of primary care hubs, how technology should be most effectively deployed in the NHS, and the strategy to deliver on ‘the shared objective of sustainability and net zero’. This strategy would, Edward Argar said, ‘bring together our investments, maximise value for money, and ensure we are all pulling in the
May 2021 Health Estate Journal 39
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