HefmA’s new-look Forum, with its emphasis on efficiency and leadership, was enthusiastically received by delegates who gathered at the Telford International Centre from May 19-20, 2016 for the two-day programme.
The Strategic Estates and Facilities Leadership Forum was organised by the West Midlands branch. Geoff Neild, branch Chair, welcomed delegates to the Forum, which had a theme of Compassion, Culture & Compassion, with a ‘strapline’ of ‘Lean on Me’. Forum Chair was NHS Commentator and Health Policy Analyst, Roy Lilley.
There were many highlights to the two-day programme:
National Chair, Paul Fenton introduced the HefmA Strategy to 2020. This Strategy sets out the key strategic objectives of the Association and focuses on four ‘core deliverables’. These are the elements that HefmA will progress: Policies and Procedures, Systems and Software, Training and Development, and Business Influence. Fenton asked everyone to read the Strategy, feedback any comments, but above all, to get involved to help HefmA make it happen.
Chris Lewis talked about his experience of the NHS as a patient and it was at times uncomfortable listening as he described a system that gives little thought to the needs of the patient when they leave the hospital. Lewis had cancer and his focus on improving after care for cancer patients has led him to establish his own website, which acts as a hub for clinicians, charities and patients worldwide. He described a system that lacks co-ordination, with poor communication, little collaboration, outdated support groups, charities that are too self-motivated and at the centre of it all, a disjointed NHS.
Peter Sellars, Head of Profession NHS Estates and Facilities Policy England, UK Department of Health took to the stage to present an update on the Carter review. Managing space emerged as the biggest topic during this session and there was a lively exchange of views between Sellars and Roy Lilley largely centred around the question of whether Trusts should sell their unused land and buildings. Sellars had already reported that the Government has set a challenge to the public sector to release enough land to build 26,000 new homes by 2020 and that 80% of this was expected to be fulfilled by the NHS.
A panel debate followed. Sellars was joined on stage by Julian Amey, Chief Executive of IHEEM, Paul Fenton, National Chair of HefmA and Associate Director of Estates and Facilities for Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust and Magnus Harrison, Medical Director of Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Questions posed to the panel by delegates included whether the benefits of CQC outweighed the costs of preparing for inspections; funding for energy efficiency programmes; motivating the engineer who never comes into contact with the patient to become patient-focused and a controversial discussion of NHS Property Services and rent increases.
A new Breakout Session saw delegates choose to attend two out of three smaller seminar-style sessions: Dr Matthew Williams-Gray, Director of Strategic Health Consultancy, Capita – Property and Infrastructure, discussed Reconfiguration of the Estate; Karl Redmond, Director of UK BIM4SME and UKBIM4HEALTH gave an update of BIM and Michael Bellas, Strategy, Informatics and Research Lead, Estates & Facilities Efficiency Team, Carter Improvement Programme for the Department of Health, presented an ERIC Masterclass.
The keynote speaker to conclude day one was Dr David Bryon, former Managing Director of bmibaby. It was a difficult day for a speaker whose presentation revolves around the airline industry as earlier that morning the Egypt Air flight had disappeared from radar en-route from Paris to Egypt. Bryon talked about his 8Cs of running a business, focusing in particular on Challenge and Change. To survive and thrive it is necessary for any organisation to challenge and change the way things are done was his core message.
Mike Chitty, Head of Applied Leadership & Operations at the NHS Leadership Academy, shared his thoughts on ‘Leadership in Difficult Times’. He recommended that there are different ways of framing the issue – as an opportunity rather than a problem. Instead of putting your head down under the pressure, look instead at the positives, present a ‘story’ to staff that feeds their own motivation for coming to work and show them there is a way forward. Prioritise, build an aspirational story, keep people engaged and above all, don’t put others under pressure just because you are under pressure.
Kevin Downs, Director of Finance for Derby Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, shared his Trust’s approach to Service Line Reporting. This involves mapping the entire hospital space, allocating space to different services with a different occupancy cost according to a weighting per square metre according to usage (so clinical space is rated more highly than a corridor for instance). This approach enables the cost of space to be analysed and under-used space identified and questioned.
Although the exercise presented by Downs focused on the use of clinical space and was aimed at bringing clinicians on-board with the reality that space costs money, Roy Lilley then challenged Downs about the space occupied by the financial team and whether this approach could – and should – be applied to all functions of the hospital – could some of these functions operate remotely, for instance, was one suggestion.
Paul Fitzpatrick, Director of Estates and Facilities for Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust explained the work being done across Liverpool to transform the health economy. Reconfiguration of hospital services is a big project, involving several hospital Trusts working together to evaluate where and how services are delivered. Does it make sense to duplicate core services across several Trusts all within 6-7 square miles for instance? The answer is probably no, so moving to a central campus with outlying services is the project, which will also involve re-allocating unused land to the development of a ‘wellbeing’ neighbourhood, pitched at people whose health conditions mean hospital visits are part of their lifestyle, but with some private and social housing as well.
The final presentation of the Forum was led by Roy Lilley, who posed the question ‘Are we doing it RITE?’ RITE stands for: Reality check, Inquisitive, Tenderness, Exciting. Lilley examined each of these in more detail, looking at the NHS today in context with its origins, how the needs of healthcare have changed since it was established in 1948 and just how healthcare can be transformed. He concluded by thanking everyone working in healthcare estates and facilities “For keeping us safe.”
The Forum was brought to a close with the Chairman’s summing up and introduction of the 2017 event, which will take place in Harrogate with a theme of ‘Breaking Boundaries’.
For more details of the Forum and National Awards, see the July/August issue of HefmA Pulse magazine.
