NHS Open Space relaunches to help nation recover

Health and well-being providers looking for alternative and flexible ways to deliver services in response to coronavirus can now use NHS pay-as-you-go spaces across England.

The NHS Property Services programme, first launched in Spring 2019, opens up underused space across the NHS, enabling health and well-being providers to offer much needed services at the heart of local communities, and providing businesses with affordable meeting or office space. It offers clinical and non-clinical spaces for hire on an hourly or daily basis, with greater flexibility and choice at an affordable price.

Profits made from this scheme will be reinvested back into the health service for the benefit of patients and to help rebuild the NHS. As well as driving money back into the health service at a critical time, the intuitive booking system means that users only pay for the time and space they need, which could provide much-needed relief on finances for independent and small businesses in the midst of the pandemic.

Following a two-year pilot, NHS Open Space, which has been designed and developed collaboratively with users, currently has 20 sites open for use across England with another 40 expected to launch in the Autumn.

John Westwood, director of Asset Management at NHSPS, said: “We know many NHS providers and healthcare related business owners will be looking for more flexible property and space options in the wake of the pandemic as ways of working and operating change. We hope NHS Open Space will help provide an alternative, cost effective option for those looking to get their services up and running in local communities, while keeping their finances healthy. It will also allow us to help wider health economies, ensuring we are using space as efficiently as possible to improve health and wellbeing, and driving money straight back into the NHS.

“For many, cleanliness and infection control will be front of mind, as they will want the confidence to inform their customers they are in a safe space. Safety has been, and still is our number one priority. Using an NHS space will help take another weight off services’  minds, as providers and patients alike can count on us to ensure that all available sites are cleaned and maintained to the highest of safety standards.”