NHS Property Services (NHSPS) and Kajima Community, have launched a new, ‘revamped’ website that they say will ‘streamline the finding and booking of clinical and non-clinical space across the NHS estate’.
The NHS Open Space website, at https://www.openspace.nhs.uk/, run by NHSPS, offers the whole of the health service a ‘one-system and self-service solution’ to book and pay for rooms via a digital platform. It encompasses on-site support with facilities management and customer service best practice, which seeks to standardise room types and specifications. The programme currently spans 100 sites, with a further 45 set to be available in August.
The booking platform powering the programme was developed by Kajima Community, with the new, revamped version updated based on feedback from NHS Property Services’ customers that used the service during its pilot phase, launched in 2019. The new website ‘streamlines and makes more intuitive’ the finding and booking process, by enabling the use of registered devices including laptops, tablets, and mobiles. NHSPS said: “It gives both commissioned and third-party services more transparency, flexibility, and efficiency, helping them reach new patients and customers, and pay only for the time and space they need.”
The premise of NHS Open Space is to use NHS buildings to maximise the range of health and wellbeing services offered to communities, ‘using existing NHS centres, instead of requiring expensive external space. It forms part of the NHS’s ongoing work to offer a greater number of services in local communities, reducing the pressure on large hospitals and making life easier for patients.”
Kajima Community helps public sector venues connect with their communities through lettings software and a range of lettings services designed to help market facilities available to hire and generate profits for venues. Chris Smith, head of Kajima Community (pictured), said: “The cost savings and additional revenue that can be generated for reinvesting into frontline services through better facilities management can be substantial. By streamlining the finding and booking of NHS space, this partnership also plays a part in supporting the health service to continue to meet the challenges of COVID-19, helping ensure that resources are managed effectively for the benefit of patients.”