The consultant has calculated that there are two million square metres of empty or underused space across the NHS estate. EC Harris reckons that the NHS could save £1bn by efficiency and supply management improvements, and raise a further £1bn by selling surplus capital land.
Even if 50% of these buildings were just demolished, it would still save £250m in facilities management and energy costs
The findings come from EC Harris’s second annual ‘NHS Service and Estate Efficiency Report’ titled Seizing the Opportunity. Figures in the report show that the NHS is using its estate more efficiently than in the previous year, with the amount of underused or empty space down by nearly a third from more than 3 million square metres in 2008/09 to 2.1 million square metres in 2009/10.
However, this unused space is still represents 7.4% of the total NHS estate and is the same size as the entire footprint of both Sainsbury’s and Waitrose stores combined, the authors say.
EC Harris partner Conor Ellis, lead author of the report, said: “Like any system undergoing so much change, this is a testing time for the NHS. There may be many months spent fine tuning the current Health Bill, not least due to the intensifying opposition, but this should not stop legitimate and necessary changes being made to reduce expenditure on the NHS estate and to improve service delivery.”
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