HEALTHCARE ESTATES 2018 KEYNOTES
A need for ‘more joined up’ thinking and practice
At October’s Healthcare Estates 2018 conference, Simon Corben, who took up the role of director and head of Profession, NHS Estates and Facilities Efficiency and Productivity Division, at NHS Improvement (NHSI) in May 2017, gave a comprehensive update on the work of he and his team, and discussed with delegates progress with the team’s short- mid- and long-term objectives. HEJ editor, Jonathan Baillie, reports on his address, ‘An update from the Centre’.
Introducing Simon Corben as the Day One opening keynote speaker at the Healthcare Estates 2018 conference, outgoing IHEEM President, Pete Sellars, said that, having started the conference with such an interesting retrospective – a dramatised performance by actor, Jon Buckeridge, who gave a vivid portrayal of Aneurin Bevan looking back on the past 70 years of the NHS as if he had just been ‘transported’ to 2018 before the main presentations began (HEJ – November 2018) – now was ‘the perfect opportunity to look forward’, with an address by the head of Profession, NHS Estates and Facilities Efficiency and Productivity Division at NHSI. In opening, Simon Corben explained that his aim would be to give delegates ‘an idea of what is going on in the centre’, and to focus on some of his team’s and the wider sector’s most notable achievements over the previous year. He would cover three main areas – ‘Operations’, ‘Collective achievements’, and ‘Short-, mid- and long-term objectives’. Beginning with ‘Operational governance’, he explained that the NHS Property Board had been established for just over a year, was chaired by Lord O’Shaughnessy, met
Delegates start arriving for last October’s Healthcare Estates 2018 conference.
every month, and was already achieving ‘some really good traction’. He explained: “In the last year we have brought in Sir Robert Naylor as a Special Advisor to the Property Board. He is currently concentrating on the London area, but I am sure his reach will soon extend further. Dr Sam Everington has also joined the Board to give us a clinical perspective, and really to drive the primary care initiative.”
At the start of Day one of Healthcare Estates 2018, outgoing President, Pete Sellars, welcomed guests to the conference, and gave a brief resumé of an eventful two years in the role for him, and a busy 75th anniversary year for IHEEM.
24 Health Estate Journal January 2019
Sustainability and standardisation of design Meanwhile, Simon Corben explained, Minister of State for Health, Steve Barclay, had joined in January of 2018 – the MP for North East Cambridgeshire and Junior Health Minister had a particular interest in sustainability and standardisation of design. Simon Corben said: “He is looking to drive pace into construction, and also to make life simpler in terms of the approvals process. Recently,” he added, “Matt Hancock joined us as the new Secretary of State for Health, taking over from Jeremy Hunt, who was extremely good and precise in the way he operated.” Matt Hancock, the NHS speaker said, brought ‘a slightly different dimension’ – providing greater authority to his two Junior Minsters, and with ‘a real drive around technology.’ Simon Corben added: “There has also been some really quite grown-up discussion between NHSI
and NHSE, instigated by Baroness Dido Harding, NHSI’s chair, based around the idea that there is a better way to offer a service out of the system, and that there are functions from both NHSE and NHSI that, quite simply, could be much better placed in one.
He added: “We are right in the middle of the ‘Do once’ initiative, and I am pleased to say that it has been recognised that Estates & Facilities needs to be one function that ‘pans’ across the whole system. That has now been set in stone – the chief executives and boards have agreed it, and we are looking for that to roll out over the next few months.”
Strategic Estates Planning Team Additionally, Simon Corben said, the Strategic Estates Planning Team had ‘transitioned’ into NHSI as a single function, headed by Natasha Kerrigan. This development was, Simon Corben said, ‘a really core component in terms of how strategic planning is driven through going forward’. He said: “In addition, the Property Board has reviewed and published the response to Sir Robert Naylor’s Report. There are some really good things in its response – things that we can latch onto, and some really good signposts in terms of what we are looking for lifecycle cost-wise. I have already alluded to the protection of the NHS’s
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