Yahoo Finance NHS property strategy could be delayed by election, developers warn
Plans to release NHS-owned land and buildings for commercial use could be further delayed, after the future of a report into the UK’s health system was thrown into doubt.
The Department of Health was due to report its findings into public health in July, but there are now concerns it could be delayed amid wrangling around the June’s General Election.
The project, known internally as Phoenix, is set to overhaul the way in which healthcare services are procured and run.
The new report was set to review the system, and a proposal to split the country into six regions so that buildings could be run more centrally. The Government wants to raise £5bn from the sale of public land by 2020.
This was expected to result in an acceleration of the release of land and buildings to the open market as more surplus stock was identified across the estate. This could have been snapped up by developers wanting to build much-needed homes, or bought by the private sector to be improved and then leased to local health services.
At present, buildings are run and leased to service providers by LIFT Partnerships, which bring together local public health bodies and private sector providers, working with NHS Property Services.
But property professionals have warned that the election could cause further delays to the implementation of the new system.
One developer, who did not wish to be named, said the report was also supposed to clarify the way the estate would be managed in the future.
“This could have also paved the way for private healthcare companies to acquire property to provide better local services,” he said. “These things take long enough as they are without further delays.”
Another warned that any new administration could seek to slow the sale of land or property under pressure from local opposition.
