Below are this week’s key messages from the national NHS Estates & Facilities Team. Please email any questions or comments you have on any of these items to [email protected] or follow the links where provided.
COVID-19: General Update and the National Vaccination Programme
We would like to thank you for your continued engagement with the weekly surveys to date. The responses are really important in helping NHS England and NHS Improvement as an organisation to shape how we engage with our healthcare workforce.
A link to this week’s survey is here and again we would be grateful for your responses – the survey will take less than five minutes to complete.
Following this week’s survey we will be suspending these for the time being. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your input and support.
2021 Chef of the Year Competition
This will be launched in the next few days. Please watch out for further details.
The competition is open to chefs living in England who are paid directly through the NHS, or through its contracted catering providers or suppliers, who prepare meals for the NHS. The competition will comprise seven regional events during July and August, the winners of which will then progress to a national final which will be a filmed event showcasing the varied menus available across NHS.
Competitors will highlight their skills and innovation, while focusing on nutritionally balanced meals with reduced saturated fats, sugars and salts. All menus that go through to the regional finals will be shared across the NHS and form part of a wider NHS Menu Bank.
In 2019/20 the NHS spent £0.6 billion on NHS meals producing in the region of 140 million meals for hospital patients. The NHS Chef of the Year competition is an ideal opportunity to showcase the great work that is undertaken every single day by all NHS caterers.
This initiative is strongly supported by the national NHS Estates and Facilities Team. Look out for further updates on the competition which we will be sharing over the coming weeks.
Hospital Car Parking: Data Collection
A letter has been issued via the Collaboration Hub by Simon Corben for the attention of all acute and mental health Trusts about hospital car parking. This relates to the need to monitor progress against delivery of the Government’s commitment to making hospital car parking free for the four key groups covered by this commitment. Estates and facilities teams at these NHS Trusts have been requested to complete a spreadsheet which needs to be returned to [email protected] by June 7, 2021.
Those responsible for hospital car parking in estates and facilities teams will wish to assure themselves that action is in hand to complete the spreadsheet.
Local Authority Concessionary Car Parking
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has revised its guidance regarding the offer of free on-street and off-street car parking in local authority car parks to all NHS staff members, health or social care workers, and NHS Volunteer Responders during the COVID-19 emergency response. The emergency parking pass guidance will be withdrawn by 21 June 21, 2021. Further details available here.
NHS Premises Assurance Model (PAM)
As set out in the NHS Standard Contract (Service Conditions 17.9) completion of the NHS PAM is required by all NHS trusts annually. Previously this has been provided as a spreadsheet.
From 2020-21 onwards, a new online system has been developed to support this. The national NHS Estates and Facilities Team has recently e-mailed invitations and guidance to the lead contacts at NHS Trusts to access the system. All NHS provider Trusts must complete their NHS PAM by July 23, 2021.
National webinars based around Trust sectors have been scheduled for the following dates:
• 8 June (11:45am) - Acute
• 10 June (2pm) - Mental Health and Community
• 10 June (11am) - Acute
• 16 June (11am) - Ambulance.
Invitations are being sent to those individuals who have already asked to attend or have requested access to the online version. However, if you would like to attend one of these sessions and would like an invitation then please e-mail: [email protected]
For comments, questions and feedback on the NHS PAM please e-mail: [email protected] and mark for the attention of Michael Bellas.
Supporting staff to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme
Directors of Estates and Facilities and their teams will wish to be aware of the key message concerning the EU Settlement Scheme which was issued via the NHS England and NHS Improvement Leaders Bulletin on May 21, 2021.
“The NHS has always benefited from committed, and talented health staff both trained here in Britain and those who have chosen to work here from abroad. EU, EEA and Swiss citizens form an integral and vital part of the health and care family, and your skills and compassionate care directly benefit patients, families and communities.”
There are less than 50 days left to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme, which is open to all EU, EEA and Swiss citizens in the UK until June 30, 2021. The Settlement Scheme will allow EU, EEA and Swiss citizens to continue to live and work in the UK beyond June 2021, meaning they will not need to apply for visas when the new immigration system takes effect. The scheme will also lock in the rights of EU, EEA and Swiss citizens, meaning they will be able to access healthcare, benefits and other government services in the same way they currently do, further details of what people will get from the scheme are available here.
It is important to remember that an application must be made for every eligible child within a family. Parents should check if they need to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme for their children, even if they have already applied and been granted a status themselves.
If an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen and their family members have lived in the UK for many years or have a permanent residence document or EEA Biometric Residence Card (BRC), they still need to apply to the EUSS (or apply for British citizenship) by June 30, 2021 to continue to live and work in the UK.
For further support, see NHS Employers’ recent toolkit ‘Preparing for the EU Settlement Scheme application deadline’. You can also find the Home Office ‘EU Settlement scheme: introduction for employers’ toolkit here.”
Please follow the national NHS Estates and Infrastructure team on twitter @EstatesNHS
NHS England and NHS Improvement National Estates Team: Collaboration Hub
The Collaboration Hub is a protected space for local NHS estates and facilities teams to access key information as well as to collaborate and to share ideas and successes. Access to the Collaboration Hub for individuals from local NHS estates teams can be arranged by e-mailing: [email protected]
Thank You
Our thanks to all of those working in estates and facilities for all that you do in maintaining the NHS estate, facilitating patient care as well as supporting the ongoing response to COVID-19. The service could not function without you.
