Community Health Partnerships (CHP) and the National Association of Primary Care have launched a guide/toolkit for Primary Care Networks (PCNs) and their partner organisations - including Community and Acute Trusts – designed to help PCNs to address the estates challenges.
Aligning clinical and estates strategies in Primary Care will be critical for the future of integrated care systems - as more patient care is transferred from the acute sector into the community - and the ability of the NHS to deliver on the Long Term Plan. All too often, though, the estate and its condition becomes a blocker, rather than an enabler. On the other hand, having good estate is transformational in how services are delivered.
‘Primary care networks: how to begin to develop an estates strategy’ is designed as a starting point for PCNs to begin the strategic process of planning their estate needs for the future, stimulating ideas and critical thinking to help networks to make the right decisions from the outset. It breaks the process down into three steps and provides case studies from PCNs that have started work on their estates strategies or have already undertaken projects for change.
There were several clear messages from the launch event:
• The estate should not be an afterthought, but at the centre of health planning
• Future needs will always be difficult to judge, so plans need to be flexible
• Work in co-operation and collaboration will be necessary
• Dialogue between Acute, Community and Primary sectors will be essential
• Need to focus on engagement at system level to meet the challenges of the future
Not addressing the estates needs of the Primary Care sector risks the failure of national plans to transform the delivery of healthcare for the future.
Click here to download the new guide.
