Health on the High Street
Despite the unflattering expression on my face here, I had a fantastic time at the FORTIS magazine roundtable yesterday, discussing how to make Healthcare on the High Street a reality. It was inspiring to see so much passion for creating accessible, modern health spaces. Key highlights from the session:
Excellent examples of public sector collaboration, including Knight Frank’s innovative public sector work in Scotland.
Inspiring case studies from Health Spaces and Assura plc on transforming unused high street locations into vibrant health hubs, driven by effective public/private partnerships.
A growing consensus on the need to rethink contracting and procurement models to better integrate on-site expertise and adopt Modern Methods of Construction (MMC).
A clear call for action for the health sector to advocate to Government so it can address critical systemic barriers: misguided accounting standards that restrict access to capital, the legacy of the previous Government's private finance ban, and a cumbersome NHS capital approvals process.
Health on the High St, Sunshine Coast, Australia
So what’s the case for Health on the High Street for hospitals?
Cheaper - From discussions I’ve had, where services can be located to the High Street, the cost of space is up to 50% cheaper than equivalent newly built space in hospitals. In an era of tight capital constraints and increasing construction costs, this is a big selling point.
Access - Generally speaking, high street space will be much more accessible to patients than the hospital campus. And if services are able to be distributed across multiple high street locations (eg therapies, diagnostics and phlebotomy), access will only improve.
Regeneration - NHS entities are generally the biggest employers and the biggest drivers of economic activity. And their services bring footfall. Putting the NHS back in the heart of high streets will help communities and economies to regenerate.
Lower carbon - where there are existing shell-and-core facilities, the carbon impact of redevelopment will be lower than a hospital new build.
Making hospital renewal viable - With construction costs increasing fast and capital budgets really constrained, we will only be able to afford to pay for new hospitals which are genuinely space-optimised. That means taking services that don’t need to be there and putting them into cheaper settings, whether that’s outpatients, diagnostics, therapies or admin. Descoping the core hospital estate to what needs to be there will in turn make the projects we need more affordable and therefore more likely.
Outpatients in an office building
