HEALTHCARE ESTATES 2021 KEYNOTES
because it makes sense for these particular challenges, but because this is a government commitment. We’ll do this by engaging via the trade associations and the institutions, those that know those segments of the market best – the Federation of Small Businesses, for example, working with the regions so we’re able to tap into local geographies with a much broader supply base, go and talk to suppliers, and provide that visibility of opportunities as they arise. It’s also about listening to those suppliers, and understanding what makes it easier for them to participate, and what current barriers prevent them from doing so – and then committing to do something to address that.”
Working with Frameworks Having himself in the past been involved with frameworks such as ProCure21, with their associated obligations to engage with the local market, Pete Sellars asked Emma-Jane Houghton whether the NHP team planned to maximise their use. She replied: “We are already working with Crown Commercial Services, our procurement partner at the Cabinet Office, to maximise the frameworks that already exist as we tap into these markets for the skills and services we need. We definitely don’t want to be in a position of repeating costly and time-consuming procurements for suppliers already on a framework. So, we will definitely be using those frameworks to our advantage where it makes sense to do so, with the Alliancing approach I have discussed being our new main procurement method. We will take that to market with CCS, and won’t be duplicating the associated approaches and governance, because the systems are already set up and in place.”
Noting that the speaker had mentioned the ‘challenge’ of current skill shortages, Pete Sellars asked her whether she believed this would impact the New Hospital Programme, but simultaneously offer new opportunities for entrants to the sector to deliver the new healthcare facilities? Presumably the Cabinet Office would be looking to try to address the skill shortages across all the various professions?
Very active in this space Emma-Jane Houghton said: “This is something that the Construction Leadership Council has been grappling with for a number of years. For the NHP, we have a Cabinet Office very much on point with The Construction Playbook, which includes policies designed to make sure we procure responsibly, and look at these infrastructure and built environments and investments in a way that makes sense for the whole government portfolio. The same applies to the (Infrastructure and Project Authority’s)
38 Health Estate Journal November 2021
Because of the long duration of the programme, the 48 new hospital schemes will be undertaken in five phases, or ‘cohorts’.
Transforming Infrastructure Performance: Roadmap to 2030. We are working in tandem with our IPA colleagues on how we drive those better outcomes. So, we’ve got that visibility for the skills pipeline, and the commitment to share that early with the market, so that businesses can invest not just in people, but equally in tools and technologies. It is also about working with industry around specific skills, and ensuring that our commercial response and approach are sufficiently angled towards outcomes so that we’re able to bring in the tools and technology, and not just rely on that manual people interface.” Here Pete Sellars asked Emma-Jane Houghton to explain a little bit more about the ‘Think Tank’ she had alluded to in her address. She said: “We describe the Think Tank as more about the sort of cultural environment we want to build in our ‘Alliance’. The challenges that sit in front of us in terms of the NHP are huge and complex, with a range of benefits we need to deliver on. That will require new ideas from a range of different sources that come together in an environment where you can do that thinking, and be sufficiently bold and brave to do it differently than before. This is essentially the way the Alliance will operate. Culturally, it signposts a new approach to delivery that is fit for future hospitals.” Turning to Modern Methods of Construction, Pete Sellars asked Emma- Jane Houghton how, with the associated standardisation and repeatability, one might ensure that innovation is still a key ‘ingredient’ in the mix to prevent design and construction approaches ‘becoming stagnant’.
Standardised design vs innovation She said: “On this programme the opportunity for MMC is huge, because we’ve got this broad programme and the opportunity to standardise the design, and to get to common components and commodities that make possible the manufacturing approach for construction.
It is entirely possible with this programme, which is unusual, because you don’t normally get that longevity of throughputs. To answer your specific question, I think it’s about being really ambitious and setting a future target of what we would like that world to look like. So, for example, working with construction innovation, a platform approach, and a kit of parts, and then working on what is possible now in the short term, in the medium term, and then in the ultimate Phase Five schemes. A big part of that is allowing the strategy to evolve, and not expecting that we will have all of those answers upfront, and also making sure we allow that Alliance to do its thing in the Think Tank and generate the IPR that will make all of that complexity possible.” One audience member had asked when the new NHP ‘Alliance’ would be going to market. Emma-Jane Houghton said: “While I don’t yet have exact dates, I do recognise that the market and a number of our stakeholders are really keen for greater granularity. We plan – through our pipeline of engagement between now and Christmas, and then into Q1 next year – to run open, transparent workshops and webinars to enable us to talk with people about what that looks like, so we can give greater commitments as to when we reveal the dates and when the information will be shared. I’d encourage people to drop those questions through to our mailbox, and to go and talk to my broader team who are on the stand at Healthcare Estates this week, including our SRO and Digital lead.” Here, Pete Sellars thanked Emma-Jane Houghton ‘for taking the time to kick off our conference this week’, adding: “I think it’s a fantastic start, and very relevant in terms of the programme that will run throughout this week, and particularly today, where we have lots of discussions on elements of ‘Hospitals of the Future’.” With this, Pete Sellars concluded this part of the session, and invited the morning’s second keynote speaker, David Flory, to speak.
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