Close collaboration in an increasingly ‘digital’ arena

As a specialist in water controls for healthcare, Rada claims ‘a wealth of experience’ in creating products that deliver the best outcomes for end-users and estates teams. David Merriman, UK Sales manager, and Matt Whiting, Commercial service manager, discuss where product and service innovations are moving for healthcare, ‘exploring the trends that have been accelerated, rather than redefined, by the coronavirus pandemic’.

The past 12 months have been some of the most challenging faced by the NHS in its 72-year history. The pressures created by multiple surges of COVID-19 patients have shown just how resilient our health services and the staff that deliver care can be in the face of adversity. The work done to adapt both services and facilities to cater for this increase in demand has seen huge innovation from across the public and private sectors. And yet, as we look towards a future beyond the pandemic, there is growing need to upgrade NHS facilities so that the service’s excellent standards of care can continue to be delivered. NHS Digital’s latest release of estates return information collection (ERIC) paints a revealing picture. The latest data shows that the maintenance backlog is growing. Costs to repair or replace estates assets in England alone that are out of date or deteriorating rose to £9 billion in 2019/20 – a 40 per cent increase on the previous year. While the government has directed capital funding towards tackling this backlog, there’s much more to be done. The good news is that industry innovations are beginning to deliver, and the future for estates increasingly looks set to harness the capabilities that digital and connected technology can offer.

That’s what water controls specialist, Rada, is starting to see. The experience of working with the sector during its toughest period has shown the company that long-term trends in water controls technology are starting to take hold and shape what the future could look like.