Utilisation data from 6,000 rooms across more than 400 properties has highlighted opportunities to make NHS buildings more flexible and efficient, freeing up space for services. NHS Open Space gives organisations the insight, tools, and expert support to identify capacity, making spaces bookable, improving utilisation, and supporting better access to services for patients.
Across the NHS estate, NHS Open Space has doubled utilisation since 2020 by making vacant and underused space flexible and bookable.
NHS Open Space also connects NHS landlords with a network of more than 8,000 pre-vetted healthcare provider professionals, supporting more than 800,000 bookings across over 170 service types and enabling more than 11 million patient consultations.
The initiative has helped NHS organisations avoid £4m in unnecessary spend by identifying capacity within existing buildings.
Chris King, head of NHS Open Space at NHS Property Services, said: “NHS Open Space is about helping the NHS get more from the buildings it already has. By giving estates leaders clearer insight into how space is being used, alongside the tools to manage it more flexibly, we can support our NHS colleagues to reduce waste, unlock capacity and deliver more services for patients in the right places.”