Wates Group and NHS England have published a joint white paper setting out recommendations for delivering 250 neighbourhood health centres across England as part of the NHS 10 Year Health Plan.
The report, Partnerships for progress: delivering a new generation of neighbourhood healthcare infrastructure, identifies the procurement, investment and delivery arrangements needed to support the rollout of the planned centres.
The initiative forms part of the government’s ambition to bring more healthcare services closer to patients’ homes, reduce pressure on hospitals, cut waiting lists and address health inequalities.
The white paper calls for a prioritised national pipeline of projects to provide greater certainty for the construction industry and support investment in the skills and capacity needed to deliver the programme.
It also recommends grouping projects geographically to streamline procurement and improve consistency across the programme.
Other recommendations include establishing long-term public-private partnership models to attract investment, involving contractors earlier in the design process and adopting repeatable design principles to control costs while allowing for local requirements.
The report also calls for social value and patient outcomes to be embedded throughout the design and delivery of neighbourhood health centres.
The white paper draws on discussions between NHS colleagues, industry partners and other stakeholders on how to move from the government’s plans to delivery.
Wates Group CEO Eoghan O’Lionaird said the priority was to establish the practical conditions needed to deliver the centres at the required pace and scale.
He said greater certainty over the project pipeline would help the industry invest in skills and capacity, while appropriate delivery models would support long-term collaboration.
“The ambition to develop a new generation of neighbourhood health centres represents one of the most significant opportunities to transform the NHS estate and improve community healthcare in a generation,” said Simon Corben, Director and Head of Profession, NHS Estates at NHS England.
