Which of the following does your organisation need from your system to support access to capital funding? (select all which apply)
Respondents to our survey wanted to see community providers appropriately prioritised within system-level capital planning (83%), a longer-term estate strategy at system level (75%), and better connectivity with primary care and local authorities (62%). Prioritisation and long-term planning are key priorities for the sector at both a national and local level.
Further work is needed to ensure that sufficient capital funding reaches the sector. The Treasury recently announced changes to fiscal rules preventing the NHS from 'raiding' capital budgets to fund revenue gaps. However, community provider leaders remain concerned that this will not have the desired effect. As ICSs draw up their ten-year local infrastructure strategies, community provider leaders are concerned over whether these can be fulfilled with the limited pot of capital funding available at present, or within the complex rules that govern its use.
This complexity also acts as a barrier to key partners co-locating. The Fuller Stocktake outlined how integrated neighbourhood working would require smaller, localised teams, drawing staff from across the NHS together with staff from local government and not-for-profit providers. However, agreeing terms with multiple partners can be very difficult in practice.
Colocation, too, is also made more difficult by leasing arrangements. While in theory leases should offer organisations more flexibility when sharing space with partners (compared to a shared freehold or a wholly owned space), in practice, existing arrangements are not set up to take advantage of the benefits this could bring.