NHS property owner makes £71m savings
The new Chiswick Health Centre was developed by repurposing an existing building
NHS Property Services (NHSPS), which owns 10% of the total NHS estate, has made cost savings of £71m across its portfolio over the past year.
According to its Annual Report, the figure was achieved in the 2023/24 financial year compared to £45.9m the previous year.
The Government-owned company also delivered over £150m of value opportunities for the wider NHS by pro-actively engaging with Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), and enabling the refurbishment or rebuilding of health facilities such as the new Chiswick Health Centre.
In addition, there was an 8.2% reduction in the carbon footprint of the estate.
The figures come as NHSPS launches of a ‘refreshed’ strategy focussing on ‘the three pillars’: a better estate; a brilliant service, and delivering better value for money.
An NHSPS spokesman said the report reveals it has ‘taken huge strides forward in enabling better adaption, assessment, and maintenance of the 3,000 buildings, or 10% of the NHS estate, it owns’.
It also enables the organisation to respond effectively to the Darzi Report and prepare its plans to help deliver the 10-Year Health Plan expected to be published this spring.
Over the next few years the company is planning a further 180 new builds and refurbishments .
In addition, reducing vacant space remains a key initiative; in 2023-24 the organisation reduced the total vacant space for the year by 42,00sq m.
NHSPS chief executive, Martin Steele, said: “We have made excellent progress this year and find ourselves in a much stronger place to deliver the property infrastructure needed to ‘Build an NHS Fit for the Future’.
“The launch of our thought leadership campaign last month focuses our organisation on how we can best help our customers to access the funding they need.
“Last year marked 10 years of our organisation supporting NHS customers and their communities, and in our 11th year we have placed ourselves in a positive position to deliver great results in 2025.”
Emma Dexter, interim chief financial officer, added: “Our vision of being the first-choice estate service delivery provider to the NHS, and our mission of unlocking value for the NHS, have been our continued focus this year.
“We have made significant progress in improving our capabilities, processes, and systems, to enable us to deliver more value to our customers and stakeholders and support the wider NHS agenda of integration, transformation, and sustainability.”