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.
NZC Carbon Estates Delivery Report
The NHS is proud to be the world’s first health system to commit to reaching net zero by 2045, supporting improvements in health now and for future generations.
With emissions relating to the estates and facilities services accounting for over 60% of the NHS’s direct emissions and a significant proportion of indirect emissions, decarbonising estates and facilities services is an important step towards achieving net zero in the NHS.
NHS estates and facilities teams have an opportunity to lead the way on net zero and will need to take significant and immediate action to ensure the NHS achieves its carbon reduction targets.
This delivery plan consolidates existing policy around reducing carbon emissions on the NHS estate and makes recommendations to help Trusts to deliver their Green Plans and the Greener NHS targets. It is aimed at NHS estates and facilities staff, leadership and management teams and sustainability and energy professionals.
It links closely with the complementary Green Plan Guidance and will support Trusts and integrated care systems to develop their green plans and estates strategies. The plan sets out a clear, sequential four step investment approach to decarbonising NHS sites:
1. Investing in energy saving measures
2. Preparing buildings for electric led heating
3. Investing in innovative new energy sources
4. Increasing on-site renewables.
In total, there are 11 strategic actions to provide a clear framework for delivering net zero estates, including actions to tackle climate change in other areas.
Our delivery plan was published on the NHS Estates Collaboration Hub on October 28. A national webinar also took place on the same day as part of the rollout of this document. The document itself along with the webinar recording and the supporting slidedeck are all available now from the Hub. A vast number of questions were tabled during the webinar. These are being worked through and will be developed into an FAQs document which will also be shared on the Hub.
NHS Chef 2021
The finals of NHS Chef 2021 are now well underway and will conclude on November 4.
The NHS is committed to improving food served in hospitals, whether for patients, staff, or visitors. The NHS Chef 2021 competition provides an opportunity to celebrate and improve the skills of our hardworking catering staff and showcase the positive influence that good nutrition and hydration in hospitals can have to reduce recovery times, improve patient outcomes, and reduce costs to the NHS and wider society.
Regional heats over the summer narrowed the competition down to seven teams of two chefs, representing the following Trusts:
• Royal Devon & Exeter NHS Trust
• University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust
• West London NHS Trust
• Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust
• Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust
• The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King's Lynn NHS Foundation Trust.
The teams took part in a mentoring event in September to help boost their skills and inspire them for the national finals.
The dishes that our NHS Chef 2021 finalists have created throughout the heats demonstrate the depth and quality of catering talent within the NHS, and show what is possible within the usual budget, timings and presentation constraints of a hospital.
The nutritionally balanced meals produced by the finalists will be included in a national Recipe Bank that can be replicated in hospitals, bringing much-needed consistency to the standard of catering across the NHS.
We wish all the finalists the best of luck and thank again their estates and facilities teams for supporting them in this opportunity.
Estates Resources Information Collection (ERIC)
The 2020/21 ERIC was recently published by NHS Digital, on October 14. You can access the published data here.
Following publication the Estates and Facilities compartment of the Model Health System has now been updated with the latest data.
There will be a national webinar on December 16 to disseminate the key messages and findings from the latest data. Please e-mail: [email protected] if you would like to register your interest in the interim.
Further information can also be found on the NHS Estates Collaboration Hub.
UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) Changes to Infection Prevention Control Requirements
The UKHSA has recommended three pragmatic changes to COVID-19 infection prevention and control (IPC) advice to help ease pressure on the NHS. Ruth May, Chief Nursing Officer, and Professor Steve Powis, National Medical Director, wrote to the sector to let them know about these changes and to thank them for their continued commitment and leadership in ensuring excellence in IPC.
Looking After You Too: Coaching support for BAME staff working in the NHS
One to one wellbeing coaching support is available for BAME colleagues in the NHS workforce. Talking to a trained coach can help you process experiences you may be facing, develop coping skills and practical strategies to manage situations and maintain your health and wellbeing. All coaching sessions are free and confidential - details will never be shared with employers. Please use this link to book a session.
Park Active
Could Park Active help ease your hospital’s parking pressures?
Park Active enables hospital staff to park off-site and to travel safely on foot or bike to work. The British Parking Association is working with the National Estates and Facilities Team to select a series of pilot Park Active schemes to operate from this autumn.
These schemes will benefit from free consultancy advice to help broker off-site Park Active provision.
Please see the NHS Estates Collaboration Hub for further details, or contact either [email protected] or [email protected] marked for the attention of Gill Donachie.
Construction Works and Associated Services 2 / ProCure23
The Construction Works and Associated Services 2 / ProCure23 (P23) invitation to tender is now open. P23 enables NHS client to access experienced and proficient partners to support across all aspects of NHS capital project delivery, with the capacity and expertise to deliver on projects and programmes of all sizes. NHS England and NHS Improvement is working with the Crown Commercial Service to deliver the new framework. Please see this link for further details.
Greater Manchester NHS Careers Hub
The Greater Manchester NHS Careers Hub exists to support people from Greater Manchester who are looking for a career in the NHS. They are looking to recruit more ambassadors to help create a bigger bank of expertise and experience as well as to collaborate further across the region.
They are looking for anyone from apprentice to director who works in estates and facilities in Greater Manchester to share information, insights and experience with local young people.
If you would like to sign up or find out more then please get in touch at: [email protected] and for more information on the Careers Hub visit: GM Health & Social Care Careers Hub (gmcareershub.nhs.uk).
Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (Phase 3)
Phase 3 of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) applications closes on November 3, 2021. The Government published its Net Zero Strategy: Build Back Greener this week, which stated that £1.425bn has been made available for PSDS phase 3. We would encourage Trusts to continue to submit applications to the scheme. Please follow the web links below for further details.
Link for PSDS3: Phase 3 Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme | Salix Finance
Link for Net Zero Strategy: Net Zero Strategy: Build Back Greener - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
For Phase 3 the focus remains on the decarbonisation of heat with funding provided for decarbonisation projects where the heating systems are at the end of their working lives. Projects should incur costs no earlier than April 1, 2022 and no later than:
• March 31, 2023 for single year projects
• March 31, 2024 for two-year projects
• March 31, 2025 for three-year projects.
Criteria
This remains similar to Phase 2 of the PSDS phase, namely;
• A whole building approach
• Focus on heat decarbonisation and equipment nearing end of life
• Applicants should be ready to contribute to the cost of replacing equipment like-for-like on top of grant funding
• Carbon cost threshold £325/tCO2e.
SRCL Addition (COVID-19) Waste Management Costs
The NHS Estates and Facilities Team at NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE/I) shared some guidance previously in respect of the types of costs for which suppliers could seek to reclaim additional funding. One such cost was SRCL’s additional cost incurred as a result of increased COVID volumes to support the COVID-19 guidance issued by the Finance Team at NHSE/I.
We e-mailed the Directors of E&F on October 14 regarding additional waste management costs which SRCL incurred by having to procure additional capacity to treat the additional waste volumes.
Please check the NHS Estates Collaboration for further details. Any concerns about this should be sent to: [email protected] marked for the attention of Jo Dolby and Steve Lawley.
FSA Listeriosis Guidance Survey
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is reviewing its guidance, Reducing the Risk of Vulnerable Groups Contracting Listeriosis (2016). To help the FSA develop a picture of the implementation of the guidance in NHS hospitals in England, they are requesting that managers with responsibility for food safety complete an online survey. This is expected to be launched on November 22 and will run until December 17. The survey is for managers with responsibility for food safety in NHS hospital Trusts.
This review follows the listeriosis outbreak in 2019 which led to seven deaths, the corresponding Public Health England outbreak report and the Independent Review of NHS Hospital Food. Local Authority food safety teams and other health and social settings are also being surveyed.
Dates for National Webinars
Please note the dates for the national webinars which have been scheduled as follows:
• November 25 - Valuations and “Instructing” Valuations
• December 16 - 2020/21 ERIC
• January 27 - NHS Estates Facilities: Resilience (to be confirmed).
These will all take place at 11am. If you would like to attend any of these webinars then please contact: [email protected] or [email protected].
NHS Estates and Facilities Team – Monthly Bulletin
The next edition of the monthly Estates and Facilities newsletter will be issued on November 5. This will provide the latest updates directly from NHS England and NHS Improvement’s Estates and Facilities Team including the latest guidance, health technical memoranda and policy developments affecting your work, and celebrate the successes of the wider E&F community. NHS staff can register to receive future editions of the newsletter.
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]
We have been arranging “overview and masterclasses” to help registered members understand and navigate the Hub more effectively. These have taken place on an ad hoc basis to date. However, following the very positive feedback we are now looking to formalise these on a more regular basis. If you are interested in attending one of these sessions (they last approximately 30 minutes) then please e-mail the above mailbox and Joy Heaps and Stuart Robinson will follow up directly.
If your e-mail address has changed over the past year (perhaps to .nhs.net), or you have moved to another NHS Trust then please e-mail us with the details ([email protected]) so that we can update our records.
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.
Please continue to stay safe and access the support material available on the Collaboration Hub. The service could not function without you.
