2021 was another challenging year for everyone working in the NHS. In addition to the usual pressures of running a large hospital estate and maintaining patient services during a pandemic, the Estates and Facilities Senior Leadership Team (SLT) at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT) also had to cope with the ongoing maintenance and decommissioning of the NHS Nightingale Hospital for Yorkshire and the Humber, the mobilisation and ongoing maintenance of the Elland Road vaccination centre (which has administered 450,000 vaccinations since it opened in February 2021) and managing the construction of the Nightingale Surge Hub on the St James’s site. These projects were developed with no example to follow; there was no template for building and servicing an ICU with 500 beds in a conference centre, a mass vaccination hub at a football stadium, or a surge hub on a hospital car park, whilst also running traditional hospital services all within the same resource envelope. HTMs and codes of practice and legislation were in place, but aimed at new builds or extensions to existing hospitals. Close discussion and proactive working with statutory enforcers from external partners were key to delivery, and the metric of statutory compliance was never lost, whether that was fire, water safety, food safety or cleaning standards. The remit was simply to develop a safe and sustainable temporary estate that would deliver specialist services and care in response to the pandemic.
The SLT led the wider team to repurpose wards, install additional safety measures for staff and patients, provide rapid transport services for inter-site transfers of Covid samples, keep Trust nurseries open to support urgent childcare needs, and manage and adapt to supply chain issues to ensure patient catering needs were met. The team worked alongside IPC colleagues and completely redesigned how hospitals were cleaned whilst managing the roll out of the new NHS National Standards of Healthcare Cleanliness.
A large part of the role of the SLT at LTHT is to make sure the Trust’s hospitals provide a safe and welcoming environment for everyone. Capital projects therefore continued, with the delivery of the largest capital programme in the Trust’s history. Over £96m was invested into schemes ranging from theatre and ward upgrades, staff work and rest areas and upgrading digital infrastructure. The team has also continued planning for the future with the ongoing development of the five-year Estate Strategy, the launch of the Sustainable Travel Strategy, Fire & Security Strategy, Green Plan and Health & Wellbeing Plan.
The Trust’s £600m Hospitals of the Future programme will see two state-of-the-art new hospital buildings, a pathology lab and the development of an Innovation District for Leeds. The SLT worked with the developers on the 17,000sqm demolition programme, which was delivered on time and with no impact to clinical services.
The Trust fully supports the NHS target of becoming net zero by 2040 and Estates and Facilities are the lead CSU in ensuring this target is met. Innovation plays a key role in embedding sustainability, and the SLT is working with its teams and colleagues across the Trust to look at ways of reducing carbon footprint, from energy-efficient lighting, paperless systems, reducing the use of anaesthetic gases and becoming carbon literate. Members of the SLT took part in Carbon Literacy training, to broaden their understanding of climate change and the impact of everyday activities, and knowledge of what steps can be taken to reduce emissions across the Trust. This best practice was also rolled out to senior healthcare leaders across the region, who came together for a Carbon Literacy Day of Action.
The innovation, dedication, and outcomes during this challenging time resulted from the SLT fostering exceptional teamwork across estates and facilities and the wider Trust.
The hard work and achievements of the SLT was endorsed by Julian Hartley, Chief Executive Officer at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in the nomination for the HEFMA 2022 Team of the Year award. He says: “The Estates & Facilities SLT has a broad range of professional expertise, they lead by example and champion a can-do-attitude that runs through the entire Estates & Facilities team. They are a credit to the organisation and fully deserve commendation for their achievements.”
The SLT Team was shortlisted for one of HEFMA’s 2022 awards.
