There’s a reason why the bumble bee is synonymous with Manchester. The symbol of industry, teamwork, creativeness and tenacity applies as much to the people who live there as to its economy and communities.
It’s a great metaphor, too, for what’s been happening on NHS estate in the year since Greater Manchester took control of its £6bn share of the national budgets for health and social care. The Taking Charge plan has some big ambitions for using that cash to tackle the city’s unique set of health and social care challenges, and enhanced primary care services are right at its heart.
That’s why the plan’s section on ‘enabling better care’ was so important. This described estate as a “critical enabler of the GM health and social care transformation programme” – noting also that “some of the estate is…providing state of the art facilities, whilst at the other end of the scale there are lots of properties that are in very poor condition and no longer fit for purpose.” Put another way, if primary care is going to be the “driving force” behind Greater Manchester’s goal of preventing people from becoming unwell, it needs the right infrastructure from which to operate. GP surgery buildings in cramped, former residential buildings are simply not fit for purpose in modern healthcare. So where has work on estate got to, in that buzz of activity since Devo Manc began?
A recent board meeting of the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership highlighted just how much work has been done already: it’s set up a strategic estates board to pull together the top-level requirements for healthcare premises; it’s created national and pan-GM memoranda of understanding to be clear on the process it will use to get premises in shape for the care it wants to offer; it’s working up a range of options for funding and establishing its pipeline.
In the context of an election in which the two main political parties both stressed the importance of better buildings for the NHS, perhaps Manchester – with its unique powers to influence the health of its people and the way care is delivered – is well ahead of the curve on making its healthcare estate fit for the future.
And as for that bee symbol? It’s never been more apt.
Paul Warwick is our Development Manager for Manchester.