Published date: 11 April 2022
Improving NHS staff welfare areas and facilities across the North West
Multiple sites across the North West
Background
Customers: Various GPs and Foundation Trusts occupying our buildings across the North West, and Clinical Commissioning Groups in the region.
NHSPS representatives: The North West Regional Leadership Team, and led by our Portfolio Optimisation and Construction colleagues.
Customer feedback
“We have known the patient toilets required upgrading for quite some time, however they were functional, so it was never really considered essential work. Now they have been fully refurbished and are much nicer for patients. We are very pleased NHSPS could do this whilst here undertaking other maintenance works.”
Rosemary, Property Manager at Audley Health Centre, Blackburn
Challenge
At times, construction works are carried out in isolation on sites and where one area is improved, other areas in the building remain untouched and dated.
NHSPS is committed to improving environments for NHS colleagues and patients alike. As part of our national Healthy Places programme, we are running a ‘building refresh programme’ that identifies opportunities to expand larger construction schemes to include additional smaller works such as improving staff welfare areas, waiting areas, and toilets.
Our Portfolio Optimisation and Construction teams look to make these small additions to programmes of works wherever they can, often creating a much greater impact for the staff and patients.
Solution
Often the spaces that patients and staff sit in and pay attention to the most are those that require updating and refreshing. Whilst Construction teams are already onsite coordinating contractors to undertake work, it seems sensible to include smaller items that may have been overlooked in the short term.
In the past year, our North West team has invested over £300,000 to expand our construction programmes to encompass these smaller projects on site.
This delivered:
- Audley Health Centre: refurbished toilets
- Brookfield Health Centre: upgraded staff kitchen and toilets
- Conway Road Health Centre: redecorated patient waiting area and toilets
- Marple Clinic: upgraded staff kitchen and toilets
- Hazel Grove Health Centre: refurbished staff welfare area and kitchen
- Heaton Norris Health Centre: refurbished toilets
- Plant Hill: improved staff kitchen and toilets
- Sunnybank Clinic: upgraded toilets
- Clayton Health Centre: refurbished staff kitchen area
Result
This expanded scope of work for our construction projects means the benefits are felt by more users of the building, including patients and staff who might have otherwise not been directly impacted by more structural work. The building refresh programme has created much more inviting, modernised places to work and patients to attend for care.
For the NHS staff welfare spaces in particular, we hope these changes can help support their physical and mental wellbeing, which will help them to continue delivering excellent patient care.
