London’s tube strike failed to disrupt yesterday’s HEFMA & NHS England Roadshow, which was attended by more than 70 people from NHS Trusts across London and the South East. The event was held in the Green Room – originally a maternity ward - at the Soho Centre for Health and Care, (Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust).
HEFMA’s National Chair David Moss, and London & South East Branch Chair Ian Daccus talked about the role of the association and its events. David described HEFMA’s role as being supportive of Estates and Facilities colleagues, bringing people together for sharing of information, experiences and best practice across many areas, from cost saving ideas to the challenges of complying with new legislation and guidance. No two hospitals are the same, but there are commonalities, and there is much time to be saved if Trusts share their learnings and avoid ‘reinventing the wheel’, not to mention the benefits of a more consistent approach. The more that people engage with the association, participating in Branch meetings, the more effective HEFMA becomes at supporting and driving improvement.
Ian explained how the London & South East Branch meets and elaborated on the content of meetings, with a fascinating virtual presentation from Great Ormond Street Hospital’s Elaine Cloutman-Green, who spoke about the need for communication between estates and facilities and infection prevention and control teams so they each understand the implications and risk attached to estates failures for IPC. (If you missed the interview with Elaine in the July/August issue of HEFMA’s Pulse magazine, please do take a look.)
National Estates & Facilities leads from NHS England, including Simon Corben, Fiona Daly and Kay Mulcahy, as well as Regional leads, Nancy Silva (London) and Jeremy Smith (South East) talked candidly about current issues, challenges, pilot schemes, projects and forthcoming changes in a lively discussion under Chatham House Rules. Topics discussed included digital projects, data, Martyn’s Law, productivity, workforce, compliance, estates planning and capital.
Other presentations on the day included detail of a substantial energy project at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and wholly owned subsidiaries from DAC Beachcroft.
This was a most informative day. Three more roadshows will be held next week and they are well worth getting along to if you can:
September 15, 2025: Midlands, Glenfield Hospital Leicester
September 16, 2025: North West, Manchester University NHS FT
September 17, 2025: North East and Yorkshire, Newcastle Hospitals NHS FT
Email the Engagement mailbox with details of the event you want to attend: [email protected] and the link for your region will be sent to you.
