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85% of NHS Thought Leaders say they would look at alternative capital funding after hearing insights

  • 85% of NHS estates and finance leads said they’d be more likely to attempt to try and access alternative funding methods as a result of the discussions which took place during the NHSPS and King’s Fund webinar
  • Thought leaders included experts from NHS Property Services, NHS England and representatives from a regional ICS and Trust
  • Areas covered by the property and health specialists on the panel included: 
    • Understanding and leveraging more funding options, from developer contributions to lease negotiations
    • How to better access and combine sources of capital  
    • Looking at more innovative funding sources 

Many parts of the NHS estate need more capital investment, with property and finance leaders across the country struggling to understand and access the funding available to deliver their estate strategies and improve patient care and outcomes. 

A recent survey carried out by NHS Property Services uncovered many of the barriers and opportunities when it comes to accessing and successfully applying for capital and revenue funding. And the estates and finance leads facing these challenges – many of whom responded to the survey - were prompted to think about innovative ways they may be able to find the cash shortfall after participating in a session led by property and health thought leaders, hosted by The King’s Fund.  

Nearly 400 estates and strategy leaders from Trusts and ICBs attended the virtual discussion, chaired by King’s Fund Senior Fellow Chris Naylor. 

Kieran Kinsella, Executive Director of Advisory Services for government-owned property specialist NHSPS, was joined on the panel by Fiona Daly, Director of Sustainability and Workforce and National Deputy Director for Estates at NHS England; Lucy Gardner, Chief Strategy and Partnerships Officer for Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Nicola Theron, Director of Estates for the North Central London Integrated Care System. 

Kieran explained: “The aspiration to create a better NHS estate that is fit for the future is central to our long-term strategy at NHSPS. And in our recent response to the Darzi investigation we were able to highlight the backlog maintenance investment we’ve made so far, to the value of around £66m per year.  

“But we also have to acknowledge the remaining shortfall and so have begun adopting innovative ways to our NHS colleagues to be innovative, finding and delivering different ways to plan and unlock investment so that ICB’s and Trusts can successfully deliver their estates strategies.” 

The thought leaders talked through the risks and opportunities of long, medium- and short-term planning when it comes to securing funding, highlighting the need to work within a capital allocation budget and CDEL envelope but at the same time deliver transformation which remains affordable from a revenue and operational cost perspective.  

Kieran added: “The age, profile and size of the NHS estate presents us with challenges but also with opportunities, and we know from the results of our survey that the issues our NHS colleagues face are areas we have highly skilled experts to help them. One example of this is we have secured around £35m of funding through our town planning team, accessing local authority development funding over the last two years, supporting 20% of the ICBs with bids for that funding.”  

The panel also outlined the need for NHS leaders to work within the capital allocation budget, and to deliver it within an envelope that’s affordable from a revenue and operational cost perspective, with life cycling costs built into the business case and investment plans helping to maintain the estate for the next 25-30 years.

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