But one of the key challenges is understanding estate utilisation. Indeed, 85%* of estate leaders report low or medium awareness of how their space is being used. And with tight budgets, complex commissioning processes, and a lack of complete data, it’s no surprise that many systems struggle to take a strategic view of their estate.
In this blog, I share five key tips to help you get started and set yourself up for success. These five insights will help you take a more strategic, informed, and confident approach to making the most of your estate.
-
Keep a long-term strategic view in mind
Thinking ahead helps you make the most out of your estate for years to come. And now we have the Ten Year Health Plan, we have that long-term direction to make decisions that best support the three ‘seismic’ shifts and the Neighbourhood Health Service vision.
-
Use the Core, Flex and Tail model to categorise your estate.
Core – Essential buildings that are critical for delivering services long term.
Flex – Building that are currently providing unique access to services but may not be needed long term.
Tail – Sub-optimal buildings that should be phased out when alternative estate is available.
-
Aim to carry out a strategic asset review every two to three years to stay aligned with changing service needs.
-
Consider how your estate can support integrated care models and future population healthcare needs.
-
Set up appropriate governance structures
Taking a coordinated approach is key to making smart, system-wide decisions, at pace. That’s why we suggest formally involving all your key stakeholders from the outset and setting up the right governance structure.
-
Establish groups like an overarching Space Utilisation Group and smaller Strategic Infrastructure/Estates Groups and Acute Property Management Groups, to handle complex decision making.
-
Define clear roles, responsibilities and policies to help make decision making smarter and faster.
-
Read our guide to find out how Lancashire and South Cumbia ICB set up its governance structure.
-
Sort your data out
Data is key to optimising your space; without the right quality and depth of data, you can’t make informed decisions. Yet 55%* of estate leaders in the NHS told us a lack of complete, quality data is their biggest challenge in optimising their space.
-
Start with gathering the basics such as lease terms, floor areas service usage, costs and building conditions.
-
Identify the gaps in your data and create a plan to fix them.
-
Keep your data consistent and in one place.
-
Be challenging and commit to the journey
Optimising your estate won’t happen overnight. You need to be committed, brave and bold to achieve your goals.
-
Be prepared to challenge assumptions about space utilisation – both current and predicted. This is why we recommend you getting your data in check so that you make informed, fact-based decisions.
-
Expect tough conversations, difficult decisions and a few setbacks along the way. That’s all part of the process but keep your objectives in mind to help bring you clarity.
-
Keep your PID live and flexible; adjust your targets and expectations as you learn more.
-
Don’t be afraid to ask for help
Taking on a large, data-driven project like optimising your space takes a whole team. In fact, 36%* of leaders in the NHS told us they don’t have the in-house expertise to assess and optimise their space. But there’s support available to help you.
Want to know more?
If you’re looking for more in-depth guidance, our NHS Estate Optimisation Guide is packed with expert advice, practical tools and real-world examples to help optimise your estate.
*That’s what we learnt from our survey with finance and estates leaders (in partnership with the Health Service Journal (HSJ) . See the full results in our guide to NHS Funding here.
