Published date: 31 July 2024
ICB Voices Q&A: Working with Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB to adapt their estate
We spoke to Sue Fogden, Estates Director at Herts and West Essex ICB to learn more about the estates challenges they’re facing and how we’re working with them to help them adapt their estate.
Can you tell us a bit more about the estates challenges Herts and West Essex had?
In a nutshell, our estate and premises were not meeting the demand from the local population. The ICB as Commissioner and its patients needed more accessible health services and some spaces within NHS Property Services (NHSPS) assets were vacant. Some of the NHSPS buildings needed refurbishing and redesigning to meet the demand and mitigate the vacant costs that were being covered by the NHS.
Adding to the challenge was that many GPs and Trusts didn’t have formal occupancy agreements in place. This made it difficult to get clarity on bills and understand responsibilities for repairs and maintenance. Without clear agreements in place, buildings were being neglected with many deemed unfit for quality patient care.
With the right estate strategy and funding in place, these sites had potential to be repurposed to improve healthcare for patients. We collaborated with NHSPS as a key partner to plan and deliver solutions that generate better value from the NHS estate.
How did you work with NHSPS to find a solution?
It was clear that we needed a belt and braces approach, a shared forum with select members from the ICB and NHSPS came together and agreed key areas of focus and assigned roles and responsibilities within specific projects.
The main ways we worked with NHSPS included:
1. Working with the lease advisory team on 23 new occupancy agreements: This gave us clarity on the terms for maintenance, charges, and bills. So, we had a clear picture of how our buildings should be maintained for patients going forward and who was responsible, as well as clarity on bills.
2. Moving 32 rooms onto NHS Open Space: This means we could better use our existing space to deliver more services.
3. Redeveloping space for different uses: NHSPS project managed some of the projects across several sites. We discussed options to hand-back and dispose of spaces no longer in use and NHSPS worked to transform them into suitable spaces for other services. They took overall responsibility to manage projects through all development phases, from securing legal, financial, and technical approvals through to managing the design and construction of the property.
How has that helped you meet the needs of your local community?
NHSPS were instrumental in helping us to adapt our estate so it supported the local community.
This included:
• Helping us secure £2.4m Estates and Technology Funds (ETTF) and investing it into 900sqm of vacant space in the Kitwood Unit at Herts and Essex hospital. Following completion of a major reconfiguration which took the shell back to core and a refit, the space is being used by two GP practices to support patients in the local area.
• Refurbishing 400sqm of vacant space at Saffron Walden community hospital, Essex for Crocus Medical Practice. The new GP practice has 12 clinical rooms to accommodate the growing population in Saffron Walden.
• Helping us secure ETTF funding for refurbishing various health centres to modernise and increase clinical space. These include Stanmore Road Clinic in Stevenage, Gossoms End in Berkhamsted and Parkway Drive Surgery in Welwyn. Lower value projects using NHSPS capital have completed at South Oxhey Health Centre and Garston Medical Centre that now accommodate General Medical Services
• Reimagining the remaining void space at Gossoms End in Berkhamsted to become a suitable location for the Human Milk Foundation charity. As a result, the charity supplies human breast milk to over 50 hospitals across the region.
