‘Endless integration possibilities’ offered

With the equipment, which is claimed to be ‘future-proofed’ to enable it to further integrate with new communication technology as it comes on stream, replacing the ‘now obsolete’ nurse call system originally fitted. Wandsworth says feedback so far been ‘extremely positive’, with users ‘excited by the possibilities that an IP-based approach to the nurse call system has opened up’.

In the 1990s and early 21st century, all the talk about Private Finance Initiative (PFI) hospital schemes centred around PFI as an innovative funding model able to get a project out of the ground and make it happen. It is clear from the number of hospitals that have been built, rebuilt, or extended, over the past two decades, that private sector involvement was just as essential as public sector funding in updating the UK’s healthcare infrastructure. Now that some of the projects are 10 or 15 years down the line, however, the focus has shifted from the success of PFI as a funding model, to its financial legacy, and viability as a management model. Originally completed in 2001 as a replacement for its predecessor, the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital is one such ‘mature’ PFI scheme that is now ten years into the management phase of the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), in this case Octagon Healthcare, which manages the 990-bed hospital in partnership with its facilities management provider, Serco. Serco’s role is not only to manage the fabric of the building to ensure that it is well-maintained and fit-for-purpose, but also the scheduling of any works that need to be carried out, and to ensure that maintenance, upgrades, and infrastructure investment, are planned in line with the PFI funding model, and aligned to a future-proofing and best value strategy. Ian Cunningham, asset manager, Serco, explains: “The final decision on any major maintenance programmes or refurbishment is made by the Norfolk & Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, but the process starts with us. Serco makes its recommendations to the SPV, and, if they are happy that our recommendations are in line with the lifecycle model, they will then obtain sign-off from the Trust.”

Ongoing equipment replacement