A new report calls for better guidance for NHS organisations on working with developer contributions to help improve healthcare infrastructure.
The report from the Reform thinktank, ‘Planning for Patients’, recommends greater coordination between local planning authorities and local NHS bodies on how Section 106 funding can be deployed to support improvements to the NHS estate. It also highlights a need for greater consideration of the capital needs of primary care in developing future strategy – as the GP estate “relies much more heavily on S106 monies, given that they are allocated less funding centrally than hospitals.”
Our recent development of a new surgery building for Brixworth in Northamptonshire was supported by Section 106 – making sure there was space for primary care services to support the growing local population.
Simon Gould, our Head of Development, said: “Ensuring that primary care infrastructure keeps pace with new housebuilding is an issue for communities all over the country – both for patients and for practices under pressure to serve ever-growing patient lists, without the space they need to do so. This new surgery building is a great example of what can be achieved when developers, communities and GPs come together.”
We think the NHS’s work on long-term capital planning offers an important opportunity to further align local healthcare infrastructure requirements with master planning for new homes and growing communities.