Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Overview

In response to reduced funding and increasing service demands, Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust commissioned Laura to lead a Space Utilisation and Options Study for its main hospital site in Swindon.

Laura’s work focussed on the original PFI Building, the Brunel Treatment Centre, the Clover Unit, and the Trust’s Commonhead offices. Through engagement with senior clinicians, Laura identified the short- and medium-term goals of the Trust’s four core clinical service areas and observed the current estate limitations.

Working with technical buildings specialists, Laura spent time on-site observing the delivery of clinical services and Trust operations and how the estate enabled or impacted these. Bottlenecks were identified that were impeding clinical priorities.

Laura’s team also assessed the allocation of space across departments and functions. They determined that 43% of the floorspace was dedicated to non-clinical uses and a significant quantum of administrative space was unnecessarily housed in the original PFI Building.

Opportunities for strategically planning the hospital estate to better support future operations were highlighted. Given the significant annual PFI charge, the study recommended short-, medium-, and long-term estate realignment projects to optimise value for money and align with the Trust’s evolving needs.