Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust (TSDFT) has announced a 50:50 strategic estates partnership and joint venture with Health Innovation Partners to support the development its ambitious estates strategy.
This flexible, non-exclusive partnership is for an initial period of 15 years and follows a successful public procurement and competitive dialogue process.
The joint venture approach allows the trust and care model partners to draw on the commercial expertise of Health Innovation Partners, and its parent companies, Arcadis and Morgan Sindall Investments.
The trust and its partners and stakeholders will be working together to review, plan, and develop the estate in line with modern healthcare delivery practices, as well as current and projected future health and care needs.
The partnership will also help to broker affordable solutions, reduce costs and maximise revenue, which can be reinvested into healthcare delivery.
Most of the trust’s sites and healthcare buildings were developed to support people’s healthcare needs several decades ago, and many are now unsuitable for modern needs in terms of their access, size, and flexibility.
Initially the partnership will prioritise the provision of new-build health and wellbeing centres in Dartmouth and in Teignmouth and the much-needed development of a new emergency department on the Torbay Hospital site. It will shortly agree its longer-term plans, which will include further development of new community facilities and investment in the Torbay Hospital site.
This will give us access to additional expertise and resource so that we can forge ahead with bringing our estate up to date for the benefit of the people we serve
Lesley Darke, executive director of estates and commercial development at TSDFT, said: “We are delighted to be creating this exciting partnership with Health Innovation Partners. It will give us access to additional expertise and resource so that we can forge ahead with bringing our estate up to date for the benefit of the people we serve and to provide new and exciting facilities at the heart of the local communities we work and live in.”
Commenting on behalf of Health Innovation Partners, Paul Styler, director of Arcadis, said: “Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust is a forward-thinking trust and we are excited to be able to offer the best contemporary knowledge and development expertise in an economic, efficient, and effective manner to deliver innovative collaborative solutions.”
Peter Cox, head of strategic health partnerships at Morgan Sindall Investments, added: “Flexible long-term partnerships of this nature are an excellent vehicle for NHS trusts to unlock value and deliver long-term efficiencies to support frontline health care needs. We are excited about the benefits we will be able to bring to the communities and people of Torbay and South Devon.”