HOSPITAL RELOCATION
What to consider when moving to a new building
Having overseen several hospital and clinical relocation projects in recent years, Rachel Houghton, managing director at Business Moves Group, offers her insight into some essential areas of consideration when approaching and delivering these projects.
What should hospital Estates teams consider when relocating to a new building? Most hospitals will, at some stage during their lifetime, go through a form of relocation exercise. Whether it is a temporary arrangement while renovation works take place, or a permanent move into a brand new building, hospital relocation projects are extremely sensitive undertakings. To be successful, they require meticulous planning, careful delivery, and joined-up thinking between a range of different stakeholders – spanning employees, contractors, and, most importantly of all, patients. There can be no doubt that we will see a growing tide of hospital relocation projects being undertaken in the coming years.
Uprooting of existing facilities In 2020, the UK government unveiled a £3.7 bn hospital investment programme, with a total of 48 hospitals targeted for delivery by 2030. Alongside this, 20 hospitals will receive a share of £850 m to upgrade outdated facilities and equipment, with enabling works
already beginning at several sites. Such developments will inevitably involve the uprooting of existing hospital wards, departments, and even entire buildings, as each relocates into new facilities. Challenges will lie ahead in doing so. As a business relocation specialist, we are responsible for the safe delivery of valuable and delicate items which may require specialist transport and storage. Based on our experience working across many sectors, arguably the most challenging of all our undertakings are hospital moves, with which there can be no margin for error. With a hospital relocation, we are doing so much more than moving a business into a new office – we’re moving a whole community. However, this also makes hospital relocations often the most rewarding projects to work on. In recent years, we have supported
numerous hospital and healthcare clients with relocation and workplace change projects. Here, I will round up just a few of the fundamental insights and learnings we have picked up along the way.
Communication must be front and centre Having overseen multiple hospital moves in our time, we’ve firmly come to understand that no matter the size, shape, or nuances of the relocation, communication is everything. The first thing to bear in mind is that when liaising with various healthcare teams on timings, requirements, and preferences, there will most likely be a lot of unique requests submitted. This makes it vital for those managing
relocations to work closely with stakeholders to communicate their protocols, and adhere to any additional wants and needs that those particular groups or individuals may have. Conducting personal audits, where every healthcare team is consulted about their own needs, will help to evaluate where you will need specialist movers. These will also assist in identifying areas that may need items and equipment moved especially quickly.
Glasgow project In Glasgow, we found this process invaluable when relocating the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. On several occasions we realised that additional care was required to safely transport supplies, and were able to respond by acquiring specialist support to apply this extra level of diligence. On a more practical level, on the day or days of a relocation, communications should be managed through a command centre (or multiple command centres) on a 24-hour basis. These hubs can monitor progress on videoscreens which display live data coming out of key information sources such as systems management software and business intelligence tools. Modes of real-time on-the-day
communication also need to be carefully considered. Often the buildings being vacated are old, meaning there could be challenges in finding communication technology that works in both old and new environments. For example, ‘walkie talkie- style’ radios may work well in one location, but not another, so it is important to have a back-up channel in operation.
Rachel Houghton says that ‘as well as connecting with people on the ground in advance, the most important, albeit basic, planning task in a hospital relocation is to create a detailed inventory of what needs moving’.
Detailed communication plan Underpinning all communications activity should be a detailed communications plan that kicks into action well in advance
October 2023 Health Estate Journal 91
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124
