Healthcare Estates 2026 asks a central question: Are we heading for a two-tier estate – and if so, how can the gap be bridged?

Across the NHS estate, a growing divide is emerging between Trusts building new, digitally enabled hospitals and those working within ageing, deteriorating infrastructure where the priority is simply keeping services running.

This growing divide raises profound implications for consistency of care, organisational resilience, sustainability, digital maturity and long-term system performance.

Mind the Gap, the theme for Healthcare Estates 2026, seeks to explore this divergence openly and to bring both sides of the estate together in a single, shared conversation.

The conference will ensure the theme speaks directly to:

1. Those delivering or managing new-build hospitals, keen to showcase cutting-edge approaches to design, digital integration, construction, sustainability and future-proofing; and
2. Those responsible for legacy estate, looking for realistic, scalable and cost-effective strategies to modernise, maintain, repurpose or digitally enable their existing buildings.

We invite papers that explore practical, scalable ways to share innovation, transfer learning and ensure that digital maturity, operational efficiency and sustainable improvement are achievable across all NHS buildings – not just the newest.

From design and technology to backlog challenges, decarbonisation and system-wide planning, we welcome contributions that help close the divide and support a more equitable, resilient and future-ready NHS estate.