Looking at the Future of Healthcare Estates
Associate, Richard Sykes reflects on his experience as a delegate at the Healthcare Estates Conference and Exhibition at Manchester Central.
The event was an excellent coming together for architects, engineers and healthcare estates managers from across the country. I learnt such a lot in a short space of time.
In 2014, I began my first project on an NHS site at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth using my specialist skills in modular design to support the delivery of a new retail unit adjacent to the main hospital entrance. Four years on and I have worked on an increasing number of modular developments within hospital grounds gaining invaluable experience in the operations of an NHS estate.
With our growing pipeline of healthcare work, my colleague Charlotte Raywood, Healthcare Designer and I recently joined the Institute of Healthcare Engineering and Estate Management (IHEEM) and booked places on the Healthcare Estates Conference. This is the UK’s largest event for healthcare estates professionals. The timing felt right with the NHS celebrating its 70th and IHEEM celebrating its 75th anniversaries in 2018.
The keynote speakers kicking off the event were inspirational and the presentation looking at how the NHS has evolved since inception was exceptional; an eyeopener as to just how far the NHS has come over the past 70 years.
The seminars highlighted the challenges encountered by healthcare estate managers. A prominent discussion point during the panel debates was around the frustrations NHS Trusts face in terms of getting a capital development procured and then subsequently delivered.
It’s no secret that Trusts face a lot of red tape. Changes in appointment at a senior board/exec level mean that continuity of project leaders client side is minimal. Projects seem to stutter through the procurement and design process, which causes time and delay costs regardless of the size of the project.
Moving forward my team and I will take the increased insight we gained at the conference and work out ways, as suppliers to the healthcare sector, how we can better support our healthcare clients and contractors we work with through the construction process for the ultimate benefit of the patients.
The improvement of the patient experience is the reason healthcare professionals get out of bed in the morning.
Our role as healthcare designers is to strive to innovate and deliver the facilities future generations expect and require from the NHS. We’ll go forward and build our service offering around this goal.
The NHS belongs to everyone until such time as there is no one left to fight for it to remain that way. From what I personally encountered yesterday, its heartbeat is as strong as ever.
To join the conversation about the future of healthcare estates, please contact Richard Sykes. Download Richard’s vCard here.