How to deal with the ageing UK NHS infrastructure

Gary Parke, founder and managing director of Breathe Energy, a company established in 2010 which says it has built a solid reputation for the delivery of energy and carbon reduction, infrastructure renewal, operating cost savings, and improved building environments, for its clients, argues that a logical and pragmatic approach, together with a clear view on the wider benefits that can be achieved, are vital in addressing an ageing NHS infrastructure and increasing critical backlog.

The 1962 Hospital Plan for England created the hospital system we have today. Over 50 years later there is an urgent need to review the NHS estate, and to rebuild infrastructure and energy systems to meet modern standards of service delivery that will sustain our health service. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has outlined a vision of a worldleading technology- and data-driven health and social care system. Delivering on this vision will require a much more integrated approach to infrastructure within local health economies than we are currently seeing. Partners working together on new models of care will need to develop a strategic vision for capital funding, covering all aspects of investment in estate management, buildings, equipment, and IT.

Uncertainty over funding