Community Engagement as Part of the New Hospital Programme  

The NHS is synonymous with the provision of healthcare services throughout the UK. But with its vast array of estates, the NHS is also (collectively) one of the UK’s largest landowners. And it’s through this elaborate network of infrastructure and its ambitious plans to create 40 new hospitals, that it’s expected healthcare estates will play a central role in helping eradicate health inequalities too. NHS England states that, ‘through its role as an anchor institution, the NHS has an opportunity to intentionally manage its land and buildings in a way that has a positive social, economic and environmental impact.’

This approach is exemplified in ‘The Building Blocks’ set out by NHS England that can be applied to the concept, detailed design, construction and operation stages of any health estates development.

Stakeholders of any NHS organisation or programme are diverse and far-reaching, so it is especially crucial that they are factored into, involved and supported to shape delivery, when it comes to any health estates development. This active engagement is especially important in co-designing estates to create social impact and help to address health inequalities.

One way the NHS has sought to reimagine its responsibilities towards its stakeholders in this regard is through its New Hospital Programme (NHP). It was described in 2020 as ‘the biggest hospital building programme in a generation’, with the aim of delivering 40 new hospitals in England over the course of 10 years. The NHP made it clear that the purpose of the programme was to not just deliver high-quality health infrastructure, but to enable NHS Hospital Trusts to work alongside local and regional stakeholders to design and deliver the new hospitals; promoting shared learning in the process. The NHP identifies four categories of major formal stakeholders that need to be engaged with: patients, operations management, staff and owners.

As an example, Lancashire and South Cumbria’s New Hospitals Programme sought to engage local residents during a period of COVID-19 regulations, most notably through online activity and telephone interviews. This included workshops and focus groups with under-represented communities and health inclusion groups [i].

Similarly, The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in 2022 set out its strategy for working closely with a variety of stakeholders, most notably staff, patients and their families, to improve healthcare through co-design [ii].

At this point with a troubled economy and scrutiny for the New Hospital Programme, it is vital that local stakeholders are engaged thoroughly and meaningfully, to ensure the process remains collaborative and continues to be an opportunity for shared learning.

To learn more about how ECF can help your health estate programme bridge the gap between your project team and local stakeholders, please contact info@engagecf.co.uk and join us at our Health Estates webinar, with guest speaker Natalie Forrest (SRO NHP).

You can register for the event here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/uk-australia-health-estates-webinar-tickets-594590515237

[i] https://newhospitals.info/your-hospitals-your-say/how-did-we-make-people-aware-new-hospitals-programme

[ii] https://www.leedsth.nhs.uk/assets/c19604889d/BtLW-Stakeholder-Briefing_May22_DIGITAL-v3.pdf