Following a successful briefing session on Thursday, September 4, 2025, NHS England’s Estates and Facilities Digital Maturity Assessment launches today (September 8, 2025). All Estates and Facilities Directors will receive a direct email with the link to complete the assessment, guidance documents and a reminder of the briefing.
HEFMA’s Digital Workstream Group has had a valuable input to the work that has gone into developing this assessment, feeding back to the digital team at NHS England. The assessment aims to generate a baseline of data across the NHS retained estate in the acute, mental health, community and ambulance sectors that will provide every individual organisation with a better understanding of the digital maturity of their estate and what they need to do to move from analogue to digital.
Aligned with the broader NHS Digital Maturity Assessment, the Estates and Facilities DMA is structured around the ‘What Good Looks Like’ framework, ensuring alignment without duplicating existing questions. It has been built around four key pillars:
• Well led
• Ensure smart foundations
• Safe practice
• Support workforce
These pillars encompass 15 domains, each assessed on a scale from Level 1 (least mature) to Level 5 (most mature).
Trusts will not be judged on the basis of the data they supply. What matters most is that the information is accurate.
A dashboard will enable Trusts to compare their own position, at site level, with others within the Integrated Care Board and the wider region, facilitating shared learning and opportunities for collaborative working.
Completing the Estates and Facilities DMA is not mandatory, but there are widespread benefits to individual Trusts and to the system overall in generating a better, evidence-based understanding of the digital maturity of the estate so that it can be a key player in the journey of the NHS from analogue to digital. The potential impact of the DMA is substantial, laying the groundwork for a data-rich environment that informs investment decisions, workforce development and strategic planning.
Directors of Estates and Facilities are asked to complete the assessment, with input from relevant stakeholders, by October 6, 2025. It will take up to three hours.
