It is not surprising to see investment into Health being at the top of the Government’s agenda with the recent Covid-19 pandemic being at the forefront of everybody’s minds.
We have seen high level commitments made both pre and post Covid which will see unprecedented investment into new hospitals, with £100m alone being earmarked as seed funding to develop proposals to build 40 hospitals across the country as part of the Government’s Health Infrastructure Plans.
Despite the levels of investment into the sector it is estimated that the backlog of work is somewhere in the region of £6bn, meaning that Trusts will have to be creative and innovative if they wish to realise the objectives of the Sustainable Transformation Plans that they fall under.
David Dent, Chairman of Identity Consult said “ It’s encouraging for Trusts to at least see capital programmes being formed but we believe that the operation of truly Integrated Care Systems is absolutely vital to addressing the health needs of the people within this country. It’s embedded within the NHS Long Term Plan which was published last year and there’s a growing realisation that there should be a focus on prevention and keeping people in their own homes for longer”
Identity Consult who have recently returned from a study visit to the Netherlands and who are supporting Newcastle University realise their ambitions for a Campus for Ageing and Vitality which will provide accommodation for people across all settings, has been at the forefront of innovative health developments across the North of England.
Mark Doherty, Managing Director added “We recognise the NHS is asset rich in terms of land and property and the formation of Limited Liability subsidiaries gives the NHS the opportunity to raise capital. We have a track record of developing proposals with forward thinking Registered Providers where they would take surplus land from a Trust, and we have also helped with getting people out of Assessment Centres and other Acute settings and back into the wider community by using assets within the Registered Providers stock, then linking this with intensive housing management and specialised care providers to provide one stop purpose built managed facilities.
We think the next step for us is to work with Trusts to develop surplus land for Assisted Living, with the option to either sell or retain it as a long term income stream for the Trust. An important point to add, is that the Trust has the option to retain and or sell but within a structure where the land remains in the control of the Trust. This, combined with capital programmes will start to make real inroads into backlog maintenance without Trusts having to sell their assets to enable this to happen.”