To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will amend the rules on building utilisation to maximise use of modern, fit-for-purpose primary care estate, including that which was delivered under the NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust programme.
Answered on
25 July 2022
There are no specific rules on the utilisation of buildings. A specific lease may limit the use of estate, such as the sharing of services. These leases are locally determined and as independent contractors, general practitioner partnerships negotiate the specific terms.
NHS England has provided an online toolkit to support Primary Care Networks to develop estates requirements. In addition, NHS England will shortly ask all integrated care systems to undertake an Estates Infrastructure Strategy informed by local population health needs. These will include maximising utilisation of the current estate to ensure primary care is provided in fit-for-purpose premises, such as Local Improvement Finance Trust programme sites. This will develop of capital investment plans for local systems to deliver a model of care determined by Population Health Management and informed by ‘Next steps for integrating primary care: Fuller stocktake report’.