Hospital 2.0: Turning vision into scalable reality

With increasingly dilapidated buildings, extensive waiting times and dwindling availability of services, there is no doubt that change within the UK’s healthcare system is welcomed.

As the NHS embarks on a bold new journey, under the UK’s NHP, the incorporated Hospital 2.0 principles are set to serve as the roadmap to success through an approach focused on effectively standardising design and construction activity within the sector.

Recent years have forced the NHS into a new role, and it can be said that it wasn’t necessarily ready for the acceleration. The impact of this comes in the form of crumbling foundations and services bursting at the seams trying to keep up with demand. However, the Hospital 2.0 alliance looks to standardise the construction and design process as part of the NHP’s aims in tackling these challenges. Its aim is to bolster the growth of new hospitals and improving current stock, through incorporating best practice elements, innovation and sustainability.

Effective procurement across any sector is built on a bedrock of collaboration and effective, streamlined processes. These are characteristics of all the frameworks we manage for a range of contracting authorities and is exactly what Hospital 2.0 looks to embody. Whether it’s standardising patient journeys and care, incorporating modern methods of construction or increasing focus on sustainability and digital technologies, there’s no doubt that the make-up of Hospital 2.0 is ambitious — but its potential benefits are exciting.

A new age for the supply chain

Effective procurement routes offer supply chains visibility of confirmed incoming work, which allows for futureproofing and business growth, as we’ve seen across our supplier network at Pagabo. Meaningful supplier engagement is ingrained within Hospital 2.0 characteristics, with the establishment of clear requirements for delivery and ensuring early transparency for all businesses supporting this new approach to project delivery, which for SMEs can be especially fruitful.

Currently, supply chain capacity to deliver offsite manufacturing, a key element of Hospital 2.0, is a 
major challenge. Significant private sector improvements, or adaptations to the new delivery approach, need to be made if we are to see the desired progress in improving healthcare estates. This is a niche consideration that may seem rudimentary at the implementation stage
we are currently at, but nevertheless it is an important consideration as far as the supply chain is concerned.

Resilience and longevity

If we are to look wider, delivering big ticket healthcare projects must come from suppliers that are robust in nature, through and through. Suppliers need to consider how they develop themselves wholeheartedly to fit the mould. Focusing on remaining agile, resilient and programmed for longevity will all be important traits for suppliers to see success within the Hospital 2.0 arena.

Intrinsically, a key goal of the NHP is increasing patient focus. Not just improving but also standardising patient care across NHS services — along with developing clearer patient flows — will reduce juxtapositions currently seen in processes and care levels. Any supplier looking to make the most of the new opportunities available to them will do well to adopt the same mantra. It’s having a holistic view that will matter most, with elements like early engagement being top ways for suppliers to help themselves with this process.

Adaptability has already been mentioned briefly, but with this comes suppliers allowing themselves to fear the unknown. Existing relationships with supplier networks are beneficial, there is no doubt about that — but the exponential growth of workflow for suppliers within the sector will come from expanding and increasing these networks, whether that’s to help timing reductions or supplier constrictions for example.

NHP’s 12 year partnership agreement within the Hospital 2.0 alliance is a clear catalyst for supporting this drive. Initially, it may seem that the partnership period is particularly long in comparison to other examples of public sector procurement routes, even our own at Pagabo, and although there are reservations that could be formed on this 12 year period, there is no doubt that the benefits are numerous.

Growing new relationships over this period goes hand in hand with having the opportunity to make these relationships as robust as possible. More so than this, the 12 year term allows for continuous growth and improvement of elements such as workflows for suppliers, all of which ties in with reducing complexities and bolstering the streamlined approach that the NHP looks to achieve.

Navigating the political landscape

When referencing the NHP’s 12 year stretch, it would be hard to ignore the tumultuous nature of our political landscape, which could either be an enabler or a barrier to the NHP’s aims being achieved over the long term. With the overall time spanning more than two standard parliament lengths, we must cautiously consider the impact any possible change of government could have consistency and overall success that Hospital 2.0 is aiming for. There is no guarantee that central government will change or remain the same over the next decade — and in some ways that is the beauty of the UK’s political system. But regardless, being on the side of caution will be important for supply chains and NHS Trusts alike.

Even without whole government changes or cabinet shake ups, this doesn’t mean that political priorities won’t shift. Suppliers, NHS Trusts and the alliance will have focuses influenced, with time and funding dedications possibly changing with the wind. For those utilising the procurement route, awareness of long-term strategy vs short term politics will be incredibly important. It’s been mentioned already that adaptability will be a core characteristic needed by suppliers especially and this is particularly prevalent here.

With public funding use a continued hot topic, the parameters of Hospital 2.0 funding must be fair, transparent and most importantly, assure value for money consistently — all in line with the aims of recent procurement reform. Any grey areas will negatively impact the growth of authority that both Hospital 2.0 and the NHP is looking to develop.

Procurement collaboration is key

Connected, resilient and efficient procurement is central to the make-up of Hospital 2.0. It can be said that traditional procurement routes can be restrictive and lack the agility needed to be consistently successful for both suppliers, Trusts and end users, which is a problem that Hospital 2.0 is aiming to eradicate.

This focus is being seen more and more across the procurement arena and has been the case with us here at Pagabo for a long time already. Effective collaboration is an accelerator, where previously siloed project partners and stakeholders are no longer incorporated in a devolved manner, but are instead brought together collectively in the aid of clear and prosperous outcomes — something we see consistently breeds success in the healthcare space.

Projects like those procured through the Major Works Framework we manage on behalf of contracting authority Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne & Wear NHS Trust showcase examples of this collaborative approach in action. Backed by funding from NUH and NHS England, the refurbishment and expansion work of the state-of-the-art endoscopy unit at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust’s (NUH) Queen’s Medical Centre (QMC) exemplifies the collective mindset that both we and the NHP are focused on.

The project involved the reconfiguration and expansion of the existing unit, creating a significantly larger and more modern facility, utilising expertise from various suppliers, including Henry Brothers, CPMG Architects and Keith Simpson Associates, alongside the NUH for effective delivery with collaboration in mind.

The project was a significant milestone for patient care in the region especially, ensuring sufficient capacity for endoscopy services is available, with the work showcasing a clear investment into improved facilities that are so necessary, not just in the East Midlands but across the country.

As a prominent voice in the UK’s procurement space, our expertise allows us to act as an ongoing supportive anchor for the aims of Hospital 2.0, and where gaps may exist in relation to enabling or ancillary works for example, we can be there to offer opportunities to suppliers, with the overarching goal of the NHP in mind.

The NHP’s standardised approach cannot be ‘one size fits all’. Regionally, Hospital 2.0 processes will need to bridge the gap between a collective standard approach to developing our healthcare system, while also staying close enough to regional needs to adapt to local healthcare realities.

For suppliers, working closely with others in the same region to deliver those collaborative outcomes expected from the NHP’s procurement route is cohesively beneficial. Both demand and resources can be pooled here, with efforts likely expedited through this approach, allowing projects to move at speed.

Looking at smaller or more rural hospitals or healthcare facilities especially, this regional focus is advantageous. Shared standards on a regional level will support Hospital 2.0’s standardisation efforts, allowing these facilities to access the same quality of procurement avenues, equipment and digital services on an ongoing basis.

Regional and national levels

From a digital transformation perspective, efforts to develop this under Hospital 2.0 are as — if not more — beneficial on a regional level as they are on a national level. The aim of transforming digital services for the NHS in line with NHP’s standardised approach to patient care will have a significant impact on a regional level if done correctly. From a patient perspective, we can expect that effective digitisation will have clear cohesivity regionally, allowing elements like waiting times, test results and direct contact with NHS staff to continuously improve — boosting not just service, but also patient confidence in the healthcare system.

It can be suggested that digital transformation is the backbone of Hospital 2.0, with its potential realistically endless as we continue to develop existing and new technologies. Whether its utilising digital analytics to predict health trends or increasing flexibility within the NHS’ stretched workforce through developed systems, the possibilities of this digital focus will be vital to the longevity and consistency of the alliance over its 12 year term.

Even from a cybersecurity point of view, centralising and standardising this will have clear benefits. The NHS itself carries some of the populations most sensitive data and the importance of effectively protecting this data is clear. Safety efforts within this digital progression must be front and centre across all elements to not only keep patients themselves safe, but their data and information also.

From a procurement perspective, this cybersecurity element is just as important as the NHS embarks on this journey of development in which big budgets, project plans and both stakeholder and supplier information will be prevalent, and therefore in need of protection.

Outside of the safety element, the running of a procurement system with so many moving parts will need effective digitisation to ensure its smooth running in our fast-paced world. Utilising central digital procurement platforms for both project partners, contracting authorities and supplier alike will be essential to ensuring the streamlined approach that the Hospital 2.0 alliance is built on.