BUILDING MAINTENANCE
Keeping local healthcare facilities fit-for-purpose
With the £3.7 bn package to upgrade NHS infrastructure announced by then Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, on 2 October 2020 still firmly on the radar of healthcare professionals – and in particular the healthcare estates community, Pick Everard Principal building surveyor, Amit Vadgama, shines a spotlight on the everyday maintenance being completed across the country at local healthcare facilities – which he says ‘is positively contributing to the health and wellbeing of our local communities’.
‘Outdated, dilapidated and in need of investment’. These were the challenges facing the government in terms of the condition of sizeable parts of England’s healthcare estate when it launched its Health Infrastructure Plan in October 2020. Since then, and through pandemic- inflicted challenges, a rigorous programme dubbed ‘Project Speed’ – i.e. the New Hospital Programme – has been implemented that aims to deliver 40 new hospitals across the UK by 2030.
Commitment to deliver expertise As part of our commitment to deliver expertise to the healthcare sector, Pick Everard has been appointed to the NHS Property Services Framework. Through this framework, we undertake vital maintenance at local healthcare facilities, with improvement works that address site infrastructure, internal and external building fabric, and mechanical and electrical systems. This programme of work, which forms part of our appointment to the NHS Shared Business Services (SBS) Framework, often goes under the radar amid wider industry overhaul, yet existing stock must continue to be fit for purpose, to ensure that healthcare professionals can provide the best possible care to patients. This is evidenced by the fact that the NHS Property Services portfolio is one of the largest in the UK – comprising more than 3,000 properties, with 7,000 tenants across England. At a total value of more than £3 bn, this represents about 10% of the total NHS estate.
Keeping hubs of community care operational Part of our remit is to keep hubs of community health operational, particularly while occupied and during times of urgent care. The pandemic has only served to shine further light on how integral our medical professionals and healthcare centres are to this mission, with dedicated staff often working extended hours,
120 Health Estate Journal October 2023
Through the NHS Property Services Framework, Pick Everard says it undertakes ‘vital maintenance’ at local healthcare facilities, with improvement works that address site infrastructure.
or otherwise adapting their working patterns, in times of particular need. For example, many local healthcare facilities were temporarily repurposed to serve as COVID vaccination centres at the height of the pandemic, balancing everyday care with dedicated support for national need. This placed increased importance on the continuing reliable, efficient operation of M&E plant such as boilers, which power the everyday necessities crucial to these environments, such as hot water. Meanwhile, regular and timely insulation and lighting maintenance ensure that healthcare facilities can run safely, with an optimal, comfortable, well-lit, and therapeutic environment for patients, and with the right conditions for clinicians to deliver excellent care. Cost, and a lack of available capital funding to make the required improvements needed to bring often
ageing healthcare premises up to modern standards, have often been the biggest obstacles facing local primary care providers in the past. The funding announcement by Boris Johnson three years ago will have no doubt come as a huge relief for local authority-funded healthcare practices, who were staring at huge costs to replace ageing infrastructure in need of urgent attention. Often, we are finding that the
healthcare facilities we are working with require not just significant M&E upgrades – such as the replacement of boilers, but also everyday improvements that can make a huge difference to the environment in which care and treatment are provided. For example, gutter cleaning, fire alarm replacement, and window repairs, are elements that could often go unnoticed, but can but play a significant role in ensuring that facilities remain
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