We are almost at the end of February already! Having just reached the huge milestone of the module installation for the new Integrated Health and Social Care facility on the Isles of Scilly and knowing what a huge impact this development will have for islanders, it’s hard not to be disappointed by the Government announcement for the revised timetable for the New Hospital Programme. But whilst I and many others are disappointed, I am sure I am not alone when I say I am not surprised.
I could add to the commentary from my colleagues across the sector regarding the impact of this announcement, but the issues are well documented and glaringly obvious. Especially for NHS colleagues (currently still in the throes of dealing with ‘Winter Pressures’) who are now facing the prospect of continuing to provide and, be expected to improve service delivery from a crumbling NHS estate that does not match the vision of a Health Care system that is supposedly being ‘rebuilt’.
Instead, I want to reflect on our achievements over the last 12 months to ensure the successful delivery of this much needed facility for the Isles of Scilly. Not only will this deliver new and improved inpatient and outpatient facilities, but will also provide access to a wider range of services not only for health but social care too.
One of the main successes of this project is how it demonstrates that if all key stakeholders are aligned, then progress can be very rapid.
In a little over 12 months with the collaborative efforts and hard work of the project team, Health and Social Care system partners, along with the wider design team we have achieved NHSE business case approval, planning permission, commenced works on site, along with the the first module install completed this month, all which will result in the delivery of a new model of care for the island, all delivered from the new Integrated Health and Social Care facility.
The enhanced outpatient facilities will include digital consulting capability, whilst the inpatient facilities will have a new palliative care room, and adjacent quiet space for relatives. Other accommodation improvements will include a new and more appropriately located birthing suite, and an improved operational layout for the MIU facilities along with ambulance service accommodation.
To enable the move to this new model of care the existing St Mary’s Hospital will be extended to provide new residential care accommodation. This allows the only care home on the island to relocate from a facility with a challenging layout that is not suitable for the delivery of modern social care services to the new facility providing 12 residential, ensuite bedrooms and associated support spaces.
The design of this single site facility recognizes the quite different accommodation requirements between Health and Social care, but at the same time it will act as an enabler for staff teams to work collaboratively to provide seamless health and social care services for the benefit of patients, residents and staff.
The benefits will be many, less travel to the mainland for island residents, improved fit for purpose facilities with new point of care testing, and diagnostic capabilities, improved staff facilities and operational layout that will enable and facilitate collaboration between teams.
As a long-term partner for the NHS, we contemplate what the delay in the New Hospital Programme means for the NHS Teams up and down the country. These very teams who have worked so hard on developing new models of care, business cases and proposals that will now be pushed into the long grass, not seeing the benefits that the Local Health Economy will see in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, for many years, if at all.
So, whilst disappointed with the announcement of the delay, and in part magnified by seeing and realizing the benefits of such projects like the one on the Isles of Scilly, it is very much part of what drives us to look for innovative and novel solutions to bridge the gap and continue to support our NHS Partners.
The NHS Confederations recent report on capital efficiency (read here) puts a focus the current NHS capital regime and calls for urgent reform to enhance productivity and support economic growth. The report advocates for enabling systems to raise private investment to support the NHS estate needs. Whilst new funding models are being considered by the Government, Community 1st will continue to champion the benefits of the LIFT model as a successful public private partnership model, which has proven over the last 20+ years to deliver high quality facilities. Facilities all deemed as ‘Core NHS Estate’ with no back log maintenance issues , inherently flexible in design, enabling facilities to be easily adapted when needed to support changing health service needs.
With the success of this model as a showcase, Community 1st is an invested long-term partner, committed to provide alternative solutions to achieve strategic estate priorities that will ignite long term meaningful change for our NHS and Social Care partners.
Community 1st LIFT company is an existing Joint Venture partnership structure that is tried and tested and has access to capital funding ready to support minor to major estate improvement projects.
It’s not broken, so why fix it! We could instead evolve the LIFT model and use this procurement cleared entities to support rapid project investment and delivery.
Kate Edwards
Health Development Director
