Facing The Public Sector Squeeze

Adapted from Environment Industry Magazine July 2010

Last year the NHS celebrated its 60th Birthday. During this time it has seen some radical changes, from advancements in medical science and technologies, to the way it is managed. However, how has the NHS Facility and Estate Management improved its energy efficiency? With 20% cuts in the NHS budget, is this bitter pill just going to be too big to swallow?

Brian Court from Community Solutions has great experience in working with the NHS. Community Solutions, who have been running since 2004, help PCT’s manage their space better. He explains the typical problems that the NHS is currently facing; “FM’s are facing tough challenges. Overall the majority of the estates are ageing and consequently they are not that efficient. So many Facility and Estate Managers experience breakdowns and poor utilisation of their plant equipment. This often leads to a continual ‘fire fighting’ approach, rather than pre-planned maintenance and projects.”

There have been huge developments in technologies in the last ten years that can make a big difference to larger estates. Some say that technology hasn’t been embraced as much as it should be within the NHS, but it must be difficult for FM’s to be active in searching out new technologies if the money isn’t readily available.

Measuring energy and space efficiency is currently a hot topic. There are several programmes now on the market that can measure not only the energy per room and the energy efficiency of the building, but can enable benchmarking against other Trusts. Mass has worked within the Healthcare sector for over 20 years, delivering solutions that cater to their clients specific FM needs. They provide web-based technology to allow clients to monitor the energy efficiency of their property portfolio.

The most popular software solution on the market is ARCHIBUS, provided to the UK FM market by Mass. This solution enables facilities professionals, responsible for multiple buildings across their business, to control their energy utilisation through greater reporting and visibility of consumption.

The ERIC (Estates Return Information Collection) scheme in place (where PCTs need to record their space utilisation for Central Government) has put real emphasis on the importance of good reporting, achievable only with access to live data. Ian Gelling from Mass explains further; “The reporting of space and energy utilisation is becoming more and more relevant due to the potential cost savings available. By using software programmes such as CAFM solutions, facilities managers can access valuable business information to help share their future projects and drive efficiencies and reduce operational costs.”

A good example of where technology has enhanced building efficiencies can be seen at Norfolk and Waveney Mental Health Partnership (NWMHP). With the assistance of Mass, the team at NWMHP have been able to react faster to the challenges facing the Healthcare sector, adopting the tools to take a proactive approach to overcome them.

With a property portfolio including 35 buildings totalling 89,000 sq ft, it was important to the Trust that they could track KPI’s, automate ERIC returns and monitor the performance of the Estate. This enables the team to focus on key financial data and forecast maintenance project tasks, enhancing service delivery.

With the NHS intent on squeezing £15-£20bn in efficiency savings out of the sector over the next five years, it is clear that technology is required to achieve this challenging objective.

In recognition of the strain being placed on the Healthcare sector, Mass set up the Healthcare Centre of Excellence (CoE) Group in early 2010. The group shares experiences and challenges that the healthcare sector faces.

The CoE is chaired by Brian Court and was launched by Mass at Innovation House in Berkshire earlier this year. Ian Gelling, the organiser of the group explains more; “We understand that these are challenging times within the Healthcare sector and believe this group can act as the forum for professionals within the Healthcare sector to share knowledge and engender best practice. It will also identify where support is available from the private sector and how this can be applied to help Healthcare providers achieve their challenging targets.”

Contribute to the changing shape of the Healthcare sector by participating in the next Healthcare Centre of Excellence event later this year. For further information email info@mass-software.com or phone 0118 977 8560.

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