| SPOTLIGHT |
Opportunities to rationalise the NHS estate effectively will need to be considered in the context of the local public sector estate generally, a report by TPP Law has argued.
The report – Asset Management in Health and Social Care – said much greater emphasis is likely to be placed on efficiencies achievable through joining up with local authorities and other public sector bodies.
Co-location of different public services where the relevant bodies are working jointly could lead to the twin benefits of improved customer experience and cost savings, the firm added.
Peter Hill, Associate Director of TPP Law, said: “The healthcare and social care environment is of key importance to the patient experience, as well as being important for staff. Better outcomes for health are unlikely to be maximised unless the NHS estate can make a positive contribution to this.”
Hill suggested that this positive contribution could be brought about by selecting from a range of estate and asset management solutions tailored to local healthcare needs.
These solutions might involve an NHS body alone, joint working with another public sector body, partnership working between the NHS, third sector and social enterprise, or with the private sector.
“Whichever is chosen, solutions which provide both transformational change of patient experience and realisation of a sound estate strategy will be preferred; providers should be willing to offer innovative means of delivering both,” he added.
The report suggested that innovative asset management could prove vital if the coalition government’s radical reforms of the NHS are to work.
Under proposals contained in the government’s White Paper, strategic health authorities and primary care trusts will be scrapped, with primary power being put into the hands of GP consortia.
Mark Johnson, managing director of TPP Law, said: “Services may go mobile or be based around non-traditional locations. As care pathways are redesigned and cost pressures bite, the trend for moving services into the community will continue and remote working for health and social care professionals will proliferate. Cost savings from joint working and co-location will come to the fore.”
The report warned that efficiency in asset management in terms of good space utilisation, energy use and low lifecycle costs alone will not be enough.
It said the process of moving services away from acute provision back into the community is likely to be accelerated as a result of looming financial pressures. Another major development will be the opening up of the healthcare and social care markets to new providers including the third sector, social enterprise and “right to request” spin-out organisations.
A copy of the report can be downloaded here.
