16 healthcaredm.co.uk NEWS Estate management is a growing concern for the UK government, with a £49bn public estate maintenance backlog – £13.8bn from healthcare alone, more than double the 2015/16 figure. With limited resources, NHS trusts must seek support. Jonathan Oram, director of frameworks at Pagabo, explains how procurement solutions can help tackle the healthcare backlog crisis Tackling the estates maintenance crisis in healthcare The struggle to remain fit-forpurpose is at a tipping point, and the mounting backlog maintenance costs for public estates highlights the strain that continues to stretch an already overburdened NHS. A high priority for the government is improving healthcare infrastructure, but this is not limited to the New Hospitals Programme (NHP) alone, and the existing estate needs to be refurbished, reconfigured and revamped in many areas to continue to serve modern healthcare needs across society. However, this is no mean feat and will take a collaborative effort to deliver across client and project teams in a way that ensures top-quality clinical care, alongside overall value. THE COST OF A CRUMBLING ESTATE The National Audit Office’s recent report (NAO), spotlighting the staggering backlog in the UK’s estate maintenance, is not something that should come as a surprise. Across the Ministry of Defence, schools and NHS properties, there is more than £10bn in required maintenance alone, placing the healthcare sector especially at a critical turning point. The detrimental effect on patient safety from issues such as poorly maintained buildings and electrics are clear, but there are deeper cuts that continue to make the NHS bleed. This includes treatment delays, cancelled procedures and discharging delays outright, but also fosters an environment where inaccessibility and financial inefficiencies are also considerably common. As a construction sector, it can be easy for us to look at the buildings for what they are, but with the strain across NHS services continuing it’s important for us to remember the people those buildings support. Tackling this backlog is more than the structures that make up the NHS, but restoring the conditions necessary for timely, safe and dignified healthcare. Aligning with its report, the NAO has explored how the estate’s backlog as a whole can be bolstered. Standardisation is a top consideration, not only for ensuring compliance but in support of long-term viability – the NHS has to be a continued priority if we are to build a healthcare system fit for the future. WHY FRAMEWORKS WORK With the backlog increasingly impossible to ignore following the NAO’s scarily high deficit figures, we can no longer deny that action is needed. We instead must turn our attention to how tackling these COMMENT
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