Shops are disappearing from the high street at a phenomenal rate which makes it hard for local policymakers to reinvigorate them into lively and bustling places.
Alongside this, the government has pledged to deliver three key shifts in healthcare, one of which is to bring services closer to the community and another is to use digital technology to improve the health services provided.
NHS Property Services works with local policymakers from start to finish to deliver health hubs right at the very heart of communities, these can be either health centres or social prescribing hubs.
As we are part of the NHS, our role is to ensure we deliver value for money and help provide better access to health services.
We have established more than 400 sites since 2019, many of these are in heavily populated areas where deprivation is high. They are providing people with access to both treatment services and preventative services, which are easily accessible and, importantly, are helping to reduce the pressure on GP services.
Here is our advice on successfully setting up a health hub on the high street:
- Look at ALL the options
We advise all our customers to make sure at the beginning of any exploration into a new health hub on the high street, they get an in-depth picture and analysis of the existing NHS and public sector estate in the town or city.
What are the local communities’ needs? Make sure you consider matters such as parking issues and public transport links. Is it an area that has lots of ophthalmic needs? Or is it osteo care that is the greatest need?
Is there a regeneration plan for the area? And will there be a new shopping centre built that may lead to a change in the local communities’ needs.
Consider the potential revenue, capital impacts and space capabilities of each scheme carefully before you go ahead.
2. Research your business case well
The quality of the research done beforehand will decide whether the health hub proves a success or not. It is our role to help ICBs and policymakers estimate rental, construction and running costs for each option.
We make sure they have fully considered the pros and cons to each option. Our experts then pull together key information and a narrative for the business case.
We recently surveyed NHS estate leaders and asked them whether they felt confident at all or not that confident in writing business cases.
Nearly 50 percent said they had been unsuccessful in securing funding up to £10m and a third felt not confident or not that confident in writing business cases.
NHS Property Services has a team of people experienced in developing business cases for a range of healthcare estates projects from refurbs to new builds and community health to acute care. One recent case study of this team’s work is the £110million NHS centre in Catterick Garrison.
Our handbook which gives expert advice on how to draft business cases can be found here. You can read more in our guide to NHS Estate Funding here.
3. Make sure you negotiate the best value for your freehold/leasehold
We are part of the NHS, so our experts have the knowledge to make the system work for our customers and achieve the best outcomes for them.
It is important you get the best value from your freehold or leasehold and to do that you must fully understand whether an offer is in your best interests.
We negotiate and secure the right lease or purchase the freehold for the NHS to run services from any given space.
We always seek to unlock value for our customers by securing the best terms possible and linking with the District Valuer for sign off where needed.
4. Reach out to ensure you get the best Town Planning contributions and advice
Will the project require planning permission and can it be supported by developer contribution funding?
The town planning system is designed to help mitigate the impact of development which results in increased demand for NHS floorspace – every year the planning system has around £7bn circulating in developer contribution funding. It’s important that timely and well-evidenced engagement is made with local planning authorities and developers to secure an appropriate share of developer contribution funding for NHS projects.
We’ve helped deliver over 400 successful planning projects since 2017, secured circa £40m in developer contribution funding since 2021 and have built an NHS developer contribution funding pipeline of over £60m. Our town planning team are currently appointed to formally represent ICBs on town planning matters in about 20% of all local planning authorities in England and enjoy working with ICBs, local authorities and third-party developers to negotiate contributions for the NHS.
5. Make sure you project manage the capital
You need to ensure there is good project management of the capital needed to set up your health hub. Our Capital Project Management team manage the fitout from initial design to occupation by service providers such as clinicians or benefits advisors.
We manage the process from end-to-end, including procurement of contractors, managing budgets keeping to timescales and providing regular updates throughout the process.
As the site becomes operational, we offer facilities management services, including a single reception for multiple services to improve efficiency.
You must also think about how you can leverage third-party capital investment for services, for example, electric car charging points for car parks.
6. Get your facilities management set up correctly
Our facilities team will continue to support customers after the site becomes operational. For example, we provide cleaning, reception and soft FM services to New Jackson Medical Centre, Manchester, making sure the site runs effectively.
NHS Property Services has around 3,000 buildings which it provides hard FM services to this includes heating, cooling and ventilation, lifts, water hygiene and security systems.
Get both your hard and soft Facilities Management set up correctly to ensure you hit the ground running when your health hub opens.
Case studies
New Jackson Street, Manchester
Working with Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership, NHSPS created a health centre that works as a satellite base for three GP practices and a wide range of community services. The medical centre is set within a residential skyscraper in the heart of the growing community.
We collaborated closely with the three GPs to ensure the environment was purpose-built and met their clinical needs. And we now provide a full facilities management service.
Erdington Wellbeing Hub, Birmingham
The Health and Wellbeing Fund set up in 2017, established 23 social prescribing projects one of them is the Erdington Wellbeing Hub which supports an area nationally recognised as one of the most deprived in the country.
It offers many different services to support the local community. It is a multi-service facility that delivers advice, guidance and support around health, employment, housing, finance, and volunteering.
- Occupational therapy
- Benefits and welfare advice
- Adult social care support
- Employment and skills support
- Arts and craft sessions
- Healthy lifestyle workshops
- Housing support
- Energy efficiency/winter fuel advice
- Social Prescribers running 1-to-1 counselling type services and linking in with social workers and occupational therapists.
