Public-private partnerships are once again being touted as a means of bringing about much-needed investment in health infrastructure, particularly when it comes to serving local health needs. Here, Sarah Beaumont-Smith, UK strategy director of Fulcrum Infrastructure Group and chair of both the Neighbourhood Health Forum and The LIFT Council, discusses the past, present and future of neighbourhood health delivery.
After many years of uncertainty, a clearer roadmap for the future of the NHS is taking shape, with the government's neighbourhood health plans starting to galvanise many of us across the sector — from investors and developers to contractors and service providers.
In particular, the government's decision to re-open the door once again to public-private partnerships (PPP) in health infrastructure delivery represents a vital step change, and is something that the investment community has been calling for over many years.
Without doubt, it is crucial that the NHS remains a 'free at the point of use' service, based on patients' needs and not their ability to pay. Nonetheless, there is also widespread recognition that the private sector has a crucial role to play, not least to help address the capital shortfall in the NHS which stands at a staggering £37bn according to the 2024 Darzi report.
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