News alert / 10-year infrastructure strategy guidance

NHS England has released guidance to support integrated care boards to develop a ‘clear and well planned’ 10-year strategy for infrastructure. The guidance asked for each integrated care system to produce an infrastructure strategy that demonstrates a clear understanding of how the estate, digital, equipment and workforce models contribute to delivery of the overarching system strategy; what estate sits in a system, the condition of that estate and how it can best be used; what the required additional investment is; options for land or property that is no longer required or needs repurposing; what needs to be done to deliver against sustainability; how the estate’s cost-effectiveness, productivity and efficiency can be increased; and what resources are required at the system level and what collaboration is being carried out. The guidance recognised that ‘if the NHS is to deliver its own plan for change, it must invest in the infrastructure and buildings’.