FUTUR E HOS P I TAL
Designing the hospital of the future
As a programme of new hospital development begins to unfold, Kate Woodhead RGN DMS looks at how the NHS could ‘build back better’ – to design the hospitals of the future around the needs of patients and to improve staff wellbeing.
Recently the Government announced the selection process for the eight new hospitals which are to be built. The Secretary of State, making the announcement, said that the new hospital programme will transform the delivery of NHS infrastructure, together with the plans for an additional forty hospitals to be built or refurbished. Alongside this programme and new funding, comes a further tranche of funds to ensure that none of the scanners, CT and MRI, in the NHS are older than ten years.
The selection process will prioritise plans
which: l Transform joined up care for people providing an effective working environment for NHS staff, in line with the ambitions of the NHS long term plan.
l Ensure fair allocations of investment to level up across regions and provide value for money, with an emphasis on mental health Trusts.
l Implement stronger and greener NHS buildings that make the most of modern methods of construction to support sustainable, greener and efficient design.
The Government describes that experience will be shared across the schemes which will be built over the next decade, so they can be built as quickly as possible while prioritising
standardisation, digital technology, sustainability and modern methods of construction.1
Capital funding has, for some years, supplemented revenue spending and there is now a considerable maintenance backlog which needs funding. But the capital spending on NHS infrastructure is essential to long-term sustainability, to meet the needs of patients, unlock efficiencies
It is predicted that AI is firmly the technology likely to have the greatest impact on the transformation of healthcare and therefore the design of the hospital of the future. It may be able to increase provider productivity, improve diagnostic accuracy, enhance patient experience and deliver, overall, a greater quality of care for the patient.
14 l
WWW.CLINICALSERVICESJOURNAL.COM
and help manage demand. The Health Infrastructure Plan2
cites that spending is
a fundamental of high-quality patient care, from well-designed facilities that promote quicker recovery, to staff being better able to care for patients using the equipment and technology that they need. The Plan also states that the capital funding will cover new hospitals, modernising the primary care estate, investment in new diagnostics and technology, and help to eradicate critical safety issues in the NHS estate. Possible barriers to delivery of the infrastructure plans relate to getting permission to build the new facilities. Where hospitals decide that they will reconfigure their services, they have to undertake public consultation, which greatly slows the whole process, making it costly and sometimes sending the outcome further up the legal permission process, which can also stop the plan in its tracks. A further potential barrier is the collapse of building firm Carillion, who had the greatest length of experience in building new hospitals, in conjunction with Brexit,
SEPTEMBER 2021
©sudok1 -
stock.adobe.com
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
