PROCUREMENT
tackling this uphill battle. They can access pre-vetted suppliers with a deep understanding of the healthcare environment, funding limitations, and long-term planning needs – eliminating the need to start from scratch. The impact of poor maintenance
on healthcare buildings is costly, and many issues – whether mechanical, electrical, or safety- related – simply cannot wait for lengthy tender processes. Direct awards through a framework to approved suppliers can significantly reduce critical timescales, enabling urgent repairs and upgrades to be delivered quickly and effectively – still wrapped up in the all-important compliance required.
Sustainable and social solutions The continued stress on NHS services in recent years – from the effects of the pandemic to our ageing population, has left the foundations crumbling from the bottom up. What were once robust systems for planning and futureproofing have in many cases been sidelined. In this context, frameworks offer not only immediate delivery solutions, but also a critical pathway to reintroduce resilience into estate management. Frameworks aimed at addressing the estates backlog should go beyond immediate fixes, helping to embed long-term goals that align with the NHS’s future vision. As we know, a prominent and pressing goal for the NHS is the move towards Net Zero goals. There is no doubt that facilities within the healthcare estate represent both major opportunity and challenge in reaching these goals. Utilising pre-approved suppliers that are already aligned with sustainability focuses and routes to realise goals, Trusts can look to accelerate related efforts through elements such as retrofitting and energy-efficient systems – all without compromising day-to-day operations or patient safety. Effective social value is important across all sectors, and embedding this through framework options is a quick and easy win to hitting those targets – but in a healthcare setting social value impacts can be far-reaching, impacting everything from quality of care and patient outcomes through to staff wellbeing. Using suppliers that work with local facilities management supply chains, for example, offers a great opportunity to give back, with apprenticeships and community engagement also being other top options. The intrinsic make-up of a procurement offering is clear,
offering powerful tools that can help our healthcare sector get back to a point where it can effectively withstand the blows of a tumultuous landscape. That being said, we can’t deny that there is also incredible value in understanding how to use them effectively. This topic has been a talking point well before the publication of the NAO’s report. For us to effectively tackle it, we need to understand the scale of support available, and find the best collaborative routes. As a supplier on several frameworks managed by Pagabo, global engineering and professional services company, AtkinsRéalis, has reinforced the importance of effective strategic management consultancy within the procurement process. Anna Lewis, Data and Artificial Intelligence lead at AtkinsRéalis, said: “The healthcare sector, along with most of the public sector, is under increasing pressure to drive productivity, improve performance, and reduce costs – all while tackling constrained budgets. The
The Halcyon Birthing Centre in Smethwick, built by BSN Group, a construction-approved supplier for the Small Works Framework.
consultancy approach operates to create the structures, processes, technology, and behaviours, needed to turn vision into reality when it comes to a more streamlined operation. “As we adapt to the age of AI, we’re seeing technology
take its place alongside human interaction – with its value becoming clearer when it comes to consultancy and project management. Across all sectors, many are erring on the side of caution with AI, unsure of what the future holds in terms of its ability, place, and purpose, alongside human-built structures. “Tackling the complicated structures of a national
health system, AI use may become increasingly prominent, but it’s important to consider it as more than a tick-box exercise. As with effective procurement, AI utilisation for management needs to be considered, understood, and utilised, in the most efficient and compliant way, as a harmonisation of any framework process or procedure creation.”
Turning insight into action The NAO’s report at the start of this year presented some hard truths that end in an upward climb. With this comes a feeling of anticipatory anxiety that as a country and a sector we have to break through – doing so together. The effects of not doing so are too detrimental. Over the past two years alone, overall backlog maintenance has increased by £2 bn. This rapid rise can be expected to continue if not tackled from multiple angles – via effective management consultancy, AI use, and all-important stringent framework offerings that can offer solitude in the storm. With a framework approach, early engagement
with framework providers is key, allowing for a holistic and collaborative approach. This approach must be embedded in all we do moving forward to tackle the crisis of our healthcare estate. Cross-sector collaboration – between client estate teams, contractors, consultants, procurement specialists, and facilities management providers – is just one of the essentials needed to harness improvement. Alongside this, central government bodies must adopt this supportive and collaborative approach, working with frameworks as a delivery mechanism with significant positive benefits to the future of the UK’s healthcare system. For healthcare projects to succeed today and into the future, procurement can’t be an afterthought; it must be a foundational part of the project strategy from day one. By engaging early with those managing healthcare-specific frameworks, NHS leaders can better align procurement routes with clinical outcomes, sustainability goals, and funding realities, all in aid of maintaining estates for the future. It’s not just about getting the job done; it’s about getting it done in a way that builds long-term resilience into the very fabric of the NHS estate.
Jonathan Oram and Pagabo
Jonathan Oram is director of Frameworks at procurement specialist, Pagabo, where his work focuses on the delivery of flexible, compliant frameworks managed on behalf of public sector contracting authorities. Experienced in public sector procurement, his experience also includes a demonstrated history of working in the hospital and healthcare industry, including five years at NHS Supply Chain. Pagabo is ‘a leading
UK procurement specialist’ that manages a suite of frameworks on behalf of public sector contracting authorities. Headquartered in central Hull, and owned by Pagabo Group, the company manages UK and EU procurement law-compliant framework agreements and provides bespoke consultancy – delivered and backed up by a team of MCIPS and NEC- qualified procurement professionals. With an approach
rooted in creating the maximum social value possible, the organisation is also a certified B Corp, Good Business Charter business, and ‘one of only a handful of NHS Accredited Framework hosts in the UK’.
September 2025 Health Estate Journal 53
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