Effective estate development and refurbishment can help to deliver a more equal health service to all of the UK
NHS England has laid out its 10 steps towards tackling health inequalities through effective estate management. These ‘building blocks’ will be reflected through 48 new healthcare buildings in the buildup to 2030 through its New Hospital Programme, in addition to modernising existing facilities.
More than just a construction and development programme, these building blocks point to significant ways the UK can make healthcare more inclusive to UK citizens through an estate review.
Throughout the intensive design and installation phase over the coming years, MIG will be on hand to ensure each facility – both new and renovated – meets these socially-critical aims.
Prior experience: accessibility, space utilisation and modernisation
The NHS’ Estates and Facilities Workforce Action Plan will dovetail with its National Healthcare Inequalities Improvement Programme over the coming years. The result intends to be the optimisation of facilities from perspectives of community development, facilitation of economic development, sustainability and affordability.
MIG will specifically look to contribute to three building blocks. Firstly, regarding location and accessibility, our expertise will ensure the optimum design and operability of facilities in areas of high deprivation, or where current infrastructures are limited.
Access to inclusive employment and training within estates also require MIG’s level of technical input. Ensuring the effective use of new space, and designing conducive environments for healthcare professionals to thrive will be pivotal.
Regarding the modernisation of existing facilities, improved design features relating to airflow, ergonomics, heat, lighting, medical equipment and sustainability will also be vital to each project’s success.
Experience in this area can already be found at North Devon District Hospital, where MIG was shortlisted for the 2022 Healthcare Estates IHEEM Healthcare Supplier of the Year Award. Successful refurbishments of the hospital’s Jubilee Ward and a key operating theatre were conducted within time, without patient disruption, and inclusive of full medical gas supply.
Reducing backlogs in deprived areas
The timeliness of these programmes can’t be overstated. COVID-19 affected some areas of the UK disproportionately to others, with backlogs of care still very much evident in some hospitals.
By creating more efficient workflows through refurbished spaces, and by speeding up admissions and procedures with modernised equipment and technologies, this backlog will be eaten into. Simultaneously, we will be safeguarding against similar issues occurring in the future.
A new MRI Centre at Warrington Hospital demonstrates this potential and outcome, with MIG winning a £5.5 million bid to develop the facility. Having already provided medical gas services, the Trust tasked MIG with the refurbishment, and the backlog has already been reduced.
Similarly, at Manchester Royal Infirmary – one of the city’s busiest hospitals – MGI refurbished 12 treatment rooms, its triage and resuscitation facilities, and its medical gas pipelines. A key success as part of this project was ensuring that no additional backlog was caused while work was carried out.
“Both of these projects were challenging and required a lot of coordination in order to achieve their aims of making them more accessible and smooth-running, without harming the patient experience during the installations themselves,” said Carl Mitten, Director, MIG.
The build has begun
The development of estates in the UK for healthcare provision needs to be sustainable in all forms. The designs and technologies deployed need to be fit for purpose now, while agile to future change.
Significantly, they will be located in areas that are currently lacking in infrastructure, opening an opportunity to leapfrog to the most suitable, innovative and accessible builds. Meanwhile, the upgrade of existing facilities must reach the same end goals without further disrupting patient care, now.
MIG Medical has experience in meeting these exact briefs, and is now primely placed to help the NHS in its goals in the lead-up to 2030. The building blocks are there – we can now help to put them in the right place.
