As the owner of the largest property portfolio in Europe, the NHS has a less than glowing record in managing its estate and ensuring that the surplus parts of it are disposed of efficiently and for the maximum possible return. Large-scale property disposals in the early 1990s, for example, coincided with a sharp decline in the market, with the result that some prime sites left NHS ownership only to soar in value subsequently as bust turned to boom.
Changing needs and market conditions, together with the advent of the private finance initiative, have served to cloud and make even more complex the issues surrounding NHS estate management. The Department of Health has responded with Sold on Health, its recommendations for modernising the procurement, operation and disposal of NHS estates. Providing bright new buildings - and plenty of them - will be integral to the government's aspirations for a modern NHS; the day of the ramshackle, decrepit 19th century hospital is over. Getting estate management right has never been a more awesome challenge.
No comments yet