Last week (21 – 22 October) we attended the Healthcare Estates Conference – IHEEM 2025 in Manchester Central.
The annual two-day event was full of energy and interaction from delegates and speakers ranging from NHS estates and facilities professions, healthcare architects and engineers to suppliers and service providers for the healthcare sector.
Community Health Partnerships (CHP) delivered an engaging session, led by Midlands Regional Director, James Weaver and Strategic Estates Lead, Guy Carson, sharing how CHP are working with local and national systems to utilise the LIFT estate across Birmingham and Solihull, including an example of the work that has already taken place at Washwood Heath Health and Wellbeing Centre, to enable the delivery of an Integrated Neighbourhood team.
CHP’s Chief Property Officer, Stephen Talboys also joined the closing panel discussion alongside key colleagues from across NHS England and the private sector discussing how existing healthcare estate infrastructure will be imperative in delivering the 10 Year Health Plan and the provision of a Neighbourhood Health Service.
Over the course of the two days, it was clear that advancing the Neighbourhood Health Service remains a top priority.
The 10 Year Health Plan makes a clear statement that neighbourhood provision starts with making the best use of existing quality public assets, LIFT buildings will continue to be key components of neighbourhood provision into the future.
The experience we have built with our partners puts us at the centre of implementing a truly integrated neighbourhood health approach across our Systems. The challenge will be to support the delivery of a new model of care fit for Integrated Care Systems. Since our buildings were originally designed, clinical pathways, NHS structure and delivery have evolved – with greater emphasis on integrated working. Our buildings have the ability to flex and adapt to this changing model, which will be unique to every neighbourhood’s health needs.
Productivity Acceleration in the Community Estate Programme
As we continue to identify key NHS LIFT estate to support wider system planning, CHP’s PACE (Productivity Acceleration in the Community Estate) programme is an effective, proactive approach to identifying, adapting and driving utilisation of the estate in order to support positive change, and increase productivity and value for money for the NHS.
We recently completed a comprehensive analysis to identify those LIFT buildings which are already delivering neighbourhood services, can easily be adapted to do so, or can be earmarked for potential capital investment to enable them to directly support the left shift.
We are producing a PACE Plan for each building which includes detailed data on utilisation, services, costs, and other details such as leasing arrangements. The Plans set this data alongside local contextual and clinical information and identify opportunities for the support of place-based delivery.
Internally, we have a number of different data modelling approaches, all aimed at providing a more reliable baseline for the sharing of information about our portfolio and how it performs. Systems will start to see this information when PACE plans are shared with them.
Value For Money
Value will continue to be a major theme as the NHS faces a significant period of change.
A report published in late 2024 explored the value of the LIFT portfolio highlighting the benefits and advantages of the buildings to local communities and health Systems, as well as comparing the relative cost of the LIFT estate to the broader NHS and commercial estate.
“The NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT): Occupancy Cost Assessment” (PDF), produced by PwC for CHP, found that the LIFT estate has delivered a host of qualitative and quantitative benefits, including improvement of the quality and accessibility of services, long term cost certainty through comprehensive lease agreements, and no backlog maintenance costs involved within LIFT facilities.
The backlog maintenance crisis facing many parts of the NHS is further evidence of the importance of a model such as LIFT, which can keep estate in high-quality condition for the benefit of clinicians and patients and with minimal lost patient episodes.
What we have already achieved
Nationally, CHP has successfully facilitated the delivery of 10 CDCs, providing more than half a million additional diagnostic tests in community settings.
CHP is proud to showcase high-profile neighbourhood success stories, including the long-standing frailty hub at the Jean Bishop Integrated Care Centre in Hull, which has been operating for over six years, and the locality hub at Washwood Heath Health and Wellbeing Centre in Birmingham, offering a range of services. Both centres serve as blueprints for future neighbourhood-based care and have been nationally recognised, including by central Government as examples of best practice.
Setting the bar for Neighbourhood Health across the Midlands: Birmingham and Solihull Locality Hub Programme
Since 2018, CHP have been supporting the development of a Locality Hub at Washwood Heath Health and Wellbeing Centre in the Midlands, through a number of variations and modifications.
In total CHP has invested £3.2million, to enable the delivery of:
- An urgent treatment centre
- Conversion of space into a CDC
- Variation of existing space into mental health provision
- In 2024, provision for a Locality control centre and an Integrated Neighbourhood Team (INT) coordination centre.
In the first 12 months of Washwood Heath operating as a neighbourhood health hub, 41,500 additional appointments were delivered in the community.
GP visits to the centre fell by 31%, A&E attendances have reduced by 20% and admissions to hospital decreased by 21%. An additional 2,000 patients are checked, scanned and tested per month.
Two other LIFT facilities in the region have been earmarked as Locality Hubs, aimed at expanding access to services closer to home and shifting care from hospital settings into the community.
Looking to the future
Financial reset and reform across the NHS are already underway, with a continued focus on improving productivity and value across the NHS estate, aligned with the shift toward neighbourhood-based care. We are working at pace to unlock opportunities for Systems with LIFT estate, enabling services to transition from secondary care settings into community environments, or from unsuitable premises into more appropriate facilities. Our capital pipeline of works support the relocation of of services, including diagnostics, treatment, primary care, and step-down beds, helping to free up acute capacity while enhancing accessibility for patients.
If you would like explore whether CHP can support your strategic and estate needs, contact your Regional Director for more information.
Get support from CHP
Get in touch with your CHP Regional Director and regional Property and Operations team to find out how they can support clinical services at CHP buildings providing high-quality, modern, core NHS facilities for patients in their local communities.
