A report just published explores the value of the LIFT portfolio – highlighting the benefits and advantages of the buildings to local communities and health systems, and comparing the relative cost of the LIFT estate to the broader NHS and commercial estate.
LIFT(Local Improvement Finance Trust) public-private partnerships have provided 350 health centres across England since being established in 2001. Community Health Partnerships (CHP), head tenant in 308 of the buildings, commissioned the report from PwC.
The professional services firm’s independent analysis, presented in its report, The NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT): Occupancy Cost Assessment, finds that the LIFT estate has delivered many qualitative and quantitative benefits, including:
- The LIFT estate has improved the quality and accessibility of services for patients and communities by providing modern, fit-for-purpose and integrated facilities that are flexible and adaptable.
- LIFT provides long term cost certainty to NHS tenants via comprehensive lease agreements. Lease payments for tenants are fixed at lease agreement, and increase in line with retail price inflation (RPI) only.
- By comparison, commercial rents have risen by 25% in the last seven years. In addition, whilst the rental payment for LIFT premises is higher than a typical commercial development, LIFT agreements ‘provide more services, hence value’, than would be offered under standard commercial alternatives.
- LIFT costs include maintenance and lifecycle, and provide value for money by ensuring that there is no backlog maintenance ‘reducing the significant and increasing cost and risk of maintaining an ageing NHS estate elsewhere’.
Nafees Arif, CHP’s Chief Financial Officer (pictured) said: “It’s clear from this report that the LIFT estate presents value for money and other significant benefits to the NHS, its patients, and staff. Increasing utilisation of the LIFT buildings as core health assets will enable the NHS to deliver the Government’s mission, drive up NHS productivity, and transform care delivery while achieving greater value.
“The LIFT buildings are modern, well-maintained facilities in community settings, and through our ability to repurpose and adapt these at pace, we can support the NHS with estate solutions that enable the shift of services into local communities, drive up productivity, and unlock value from the current physical infrastructure.”
The report evidences ‘the continuing importance’ of the LIFT buildings, underlining the fact that they are largely located in areas of high health needs. and ideally placed to support the Government’s ambition of a Neighbourhood Health Service with more prevention and health care delivered locally.
Dan Whittle, Associate director, Finance, at PwC, said: “While headline occupancy costs can be perceived as expensive, our analysis highlights the known underlying underinvestment in maintenance across the wider estate.
“The analysis we performed using the ERIC data and the LIFT structure re-emphasised that value for money in estates needs to be a balanced assessment. Headline costs can be misleading, and value for money needs to consider wider factors, including maintenance behaviours. Managing the estates portfolio will be a continuing challenge, and the evolution of ICB estates strategies should allow for more joined up masterplanning. Our work with CHP re-emphasises that value for money is a broader measure than a headline occupancy price and, aligned to the Darzi findings, ignoring the true cost of a properly maintained estate is a false economy.”