Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (MPFT) formed following the merger of two Trusts in 2018 which bought together numerous different estate data sets. As part of a review of those data sets in 2022, Medical Architecture were asked to assist the new organization in the development of an Estates Strategy for the North Staffordshire region.

Early investigations revealed that the existing estate was typical; with as many construction types, building sizes and levels of suitability and condition as there were buildings.

The Trust’s database of estates information was shared for analysis with the architects who observed that a large quantity of very detailed estates information (such as six facet surveys) existed for each property. But missing was any useful context to consider how these properties related to one another, to the wider Trust estate and the population they served. Medical Architecture has worked with MPFT to develop a custom tool which provides that strategic overview.

The Estates Register tool consolidates all the Trust’s available data sets and recasts the data, assessing each site against a defined list of criteria. This covers a range of aspects from clinical and functional quality to physical condition, environmental performance, and scope for development. Scores are assigned from A-D and presented in a legible single-page dashboard for each property, allowing a high-level strategic overview of its comparative value.

Adopting a systematic approach and considering each building as part of the wider estate has allowed MPFT to evaluate the characteristics of that estate in a more strategic manner. A team of appointed consultants, including healthcare planners as well as architects and engineers, have worked alongside the Trust to develop an assessment tool which can quickly define the effectiveness, the efficiency of service delivery, improved environmental performance, and value for investment.

The tool, and the process for its use, are systematic and scalable, allowing measured criteria to be reviewed and presented comparatively, so that headline principles are communicated graphically, and more effectively to Trust boards. This presentation will therefore look at the lessons to be learnt, and how these can be taken forward by other Trusts looking to develop a regional estate strategy.