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The cost-of-living crisis is a household issue for the NHS

The increase in the UK cost of living has placed unprecedented pressure on operating budgets for NHS facilities and service-providers alike. An associate director at Archus outlines the ways NHS Estates and Facilities teams can address inflationary pressures, and protect service delivery standards, while maintaining the principles of partnership and social value.

The cost of living has been increasing across the UK since early 2021 and through 2022, placing unprecedented pressure on operating budgets for NHS facilities and service-providers alike. Dr Rachel Dick, FRICS, an associate director at Archus, outlines the ways NHS Estates and Facilities teams can address inflationary pressures in their FM supply chain, and protect service delivery standards, while maintaining the spirit and principles of partnership and social value.

The UK Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rose by 9.4% in the 12 months to June 2022, up from 9.1% in May. One way to understand a price index is to think of a very large shopping basket containing the goods and services typically bought by households. The price index estimates changes to the total cost of this basket. When we think of this ‘household basket’ in the context of our own lives, we might list food, transport, gas and electricity, property maintenance, and improvements etc. Scaled up, all these cost pressures exist for the delivery of hard and soft FM services across the NHS estate too.

Diseconomies of scale

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Upcoming Events

Transforming NHS Estates Conference and Exhibition 2023: Revolutionising Estates, Services & Infrastructure

Royal Society of Medicine, London
3rd October 2023

Healthcare Estates Conference, Exhibition and Awards

Manchester Central
10th - 11th October 2023

Central Sterilising Club Autumn Study Day 2023 – ‘Decontamination – Dare to Defy the Dogma’

LMI Conference Centre, Liverpool
16th October 2023

Future Surgery

Excel Centre London
14 - 15 November 2023

IDSc Annual Conference 2023

The Birmingham Metropole Hotel
28th -29th November 2023

Access the latest issue of Health Estate Journal on your mobile device together with an archive of back issues.

Download the FREE Health Estate Journal app from your device's App store

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