‘SMART’ HEALTHCARE
Financing smart buildings – value in the ‘new normal’
Jo Harris, Commercial Finance UK Sales director, Siemens Financial Services in the UK, discusses some of the benefits to both to occupiers and users of increasingly ‘smart’ healthcare buildings, and the role of ‘smart financing’ in their construction and operation.
COVID-19 has caused a crisis for building owners and landlords – both in the public and private sectors. Patterns of work and public service are clearly changing as a result of the crisis and its aftermath. With this, the way in which we use public and commercial indoor spaces has been profoundly altered, shining a light on the need to optimise the hygiene, safety, and energy efficiency of buildings. We have seen a massive effort globally to rapidly and urgently adapt hospitals to cope with the pressures of the pandemic, operating safely and with flexibility.1
Making healthcare buildings
smart allows this flexibility – whether from the perspective of agile changes of use, security and safety, or an enhanced ability to morph to volatile circumstances. The evidence suggests that not only have smart hospitals been seen to cope better with the pressures of a global pandemic,2,3 but that they are also a valuable long-term asset in transforming healthcare delivery so that it is clinically and financially sustainable long into the future.4 Indeed, there is a ‘perfect storm’ of
factors which are coming together to simultaneously drive change and make
In hospitals, smart, adaptive building systems can provide ideal conditions for patient recovery by leveraging Artificial Intelligence to optimise temperature, air quality, and flow (vital for infection control), lighting, and other variables, within patient rooms.
healthcare buildings smart. Firstly, the economic pressures resulting from the pandemic are focusing minds on ways of achieving building management cost efficiencies (especially through energy efficiency).5
At the same time,
COVID-19 has introduced new rules and ways of working to ensure hygiene, infection control, and safety, in buildings.6 Alongside these topical pressures are existing and emerging regulatory requirements that make fire and security upgrades mandatory.7
Equally, various
policies around the world are setting targets to reach higher environmental standards in buildings.
The latest insight paper from Siemens Financial Services.
72 Health Estate Journal May 2022
Making the case for ‘smart’ healthcare facilities ‘Smart’ buildings deploy automated and digitalised technology to enable more efficient, more effective, building capabilities and management. The data generated by IoT sensors provide real- time information for quick reactions. Smart technology helps transform the building from a cost burden to an active
contributing partner – a new team member – in running a public sector organisation and coping with the ‘new normal’. It is arguable that hospitals that fail to become ‘smart’ will struggle to deliver patient and community services effectively and efficiently. Smart, digitalised hospitals, which already use technology such as touchless controls, distanced temperature measurement, and remote building management, have been seen to cope better with the pressures of a global pandemic – an inspiration to others to accelerate their digital transformation.
Leveraging AI
In hospitals, smart, adaptive building systems can provide ideal conditions for patient recovery by leveraging Artificial Intelligence to optimise temperature, air quality, and flow (vital for infection control), lighting, and other variables, within patient rooms, as well as optimising energy consumption. Ultimately, patient safety and outcomes improve, length of stay is reduced, and patient throughput for the hospital increases.
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