Since it was launched 10 years ago with the revamp of a health centre in east London, the NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) has seen the development of 314 new facilities across England as well as creating employment opportunities for more than 30,000 people.
The LIFT programme was set up to drive improvements in health service accommodation; improve working conditions and facilities for service providers; and create more flexible, futureproofed facilities to meet NHS standards.
As well as providing modern facilities that are accessible to mixed communities and are necessary to efficiently meet health needs, LIFT project accommodation also enables a flexible response to the varying needs of populations undergoing rapid change
A report exploring the impact of the scheme a decade on from its launch has now been published following research by Amion Consulting.
Researchers looked at the socio-economic impact of LIFT during both construction and operational phases over the past decade.
During that time 314 buildings have been opened or are currently under construction, bringing a host of benefits in terms of the social and economic impact that they have within their local communities, particularly in areas that are among most deprived in the country.
The report, entitled The Impact of the Local Improvement Finance Trust Programme, reveals that, in total, £2.2billion of capital has been injected into improving facilities, generating and estimated £1.13billion worth of business for SMEs.
But LIFT has had a particularly big impact in the country’s most-deprived areas, where access to health services was historically poor.
Of all the projects undertaken to date, 119 were in some of England’s most-deprived cities and towns, 42% of the total floorspace, and 40% - £891m - of the total spend on LIFT buildings.
At the same time jobs have been created in these areas where, traditionally, work is hard to find.
LIFT developments are facilitating much better access to a greater range of services, often in areas where a significant number of residents suffer from socio-economic disadvantage including poor health and wellbeing
Commenting in the document, Dr Sue O’Connell, chief executive of Community Health Partnerships (CHO), which has overall responsibility for LIFT and commissioned the research, said: “There is much to celebrate within the past 10 years and as the national LIFT programme lead, we wanted to explore the impact of the programme during that time in more detail, recognising that while the core rationale behind LIFT is the delivery of more effective and accessible health services, there are also many other potential benefits and impacts.
“At the heart of the LIFT programme are long-term public private partnerships and I’d like to thank everyone who has been, and indeed still is, involved in the programme.”
The first LIFT building was the E12 Health Centre in Newham, which is a 2,500sq m development housing eight GPs and a range of health services, including minor surgery, child health clinics, asthma and diabetes clinics and counselling services.
The researchers found one of the biggest impacts of the initiative was increased service integration. The report states: “This co-location of a range of service providers in one building has enabled better service integration and, in turn, facilitated improved joint working, as well as better integration of primary and secondary care and specialist services. It has also helped to reduce unnecessary hospital appointments and allowed more efficient referrals, avoiding people getting lost in the system.
“Inter-agency co-operation is also improved, for example, between health and local authority services such as benefits advice, housing support and specialist advice services on issues including immigration, drugs and alcohol.
Through the co-location of previously separate bodies, LIFT has facilitated broader linkages and a more holistic approach to the delivery of health and community services.”
Overall LIFT has brought care closer to patients and integrated a greater range of services under one roof, in better environments
And example of this is in Liverpool where some LIFT developments have the Citizens Advice Bureau, Sure Start projects and third sector providers in fields such as mental health, smoking cessation and counselling services all based together under one roof.
It has also helped to futureproof healthcare facilities.
The report says: “LIFT developments are facilitating much better access to a greater range of services, often in areas where a significant number of residents suffer from socio-economic disadvantage including poor health and wellbeing.
“There are three times as many LIFT projects in multicultural areas than would have been expected given an even distribution across all area types, with 60% of all projects either in these areas or in disadvantaged urban communities.
“As well as providing modern facilities that are accessible to mixed communities and are necessary to efficiently meet health needs, LIFT project accommodation also enables a flexible response to the varying needs of populations undergoing rapid change.”
In conclusion the researchers state: “Overall LIFT has brought care closer to patients and integrated a greater range of services under one roof, in better environments. It has also facilitated other programmes aimed at promoting healthier lifestyles and more outpatient activity.
Click here to read the report.