Unique initiative supported by industry-leading experts from MJ Medical, Llewelyn Davies, Sir Robert McAlpine, Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences, TClarke and more.

Today sees the launch of Healthcare Design Leadership, a not-for-profit community interest company (CIC) established by a group of leading experts across the fields of healthcare, academia and the built environment, to empower healthcare leaders with the skills, knowledge and tools to maximise the value and impact of their participation in capital development projects.

The organisation, a first of its kind in the UK, aims to help every NHS Trust become a highly informed client at all levels by training clinical and managerial NHS personnel on how to effectively engage in the design and development process of hospitals and other healthcare buildings.

A collaboration between healthcare planners MJ Medical, specialist healthcare architects Llewelyn Davies, and Professor Ashok Handa – Professor of Vascular Surgery and Director of Teaching in Surgery at the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences at the University of Oxford, Healthcare Design Leadership boasts a truly multi-disciplinary faculty comprising clinicians, healthcare planners, architects, contractors and researchers. In addition to the founding partners, contributors to the training programme include sector leading representatives from a variety of organisations, including Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, Sir Robert McAlpine, WSP and TClarke.

As the key users of healthcare buildings alongside patients and their families, it is vital for doctors, nurses, Allied Health Professionals and managers to be the principal stakeholders in the full lifecycle of planning and designing new healthcare facilities. A growing body of research has identified that, all too often, a gap in understanding and skills means the value these stakeholders’ input has on the design and development process is less than it could be. This can cause the resulting design to be sub-optimal, frustrating potential efficiency gains and compromising the improvements in clinical care realised when organisation and building are working in unison.

Through their extensive experience of healthcare capital development, the founders of Healthcare Design Leadership seek to address this challenge through the provision of a comprehensive package of knowledge transfer, delivered in a variety of ways, to NHS Trusts and personnel. By enabling healthcare leaders and practitioners to enhance their skills and engagement in the briefing, planning, design, construction and commissioning process, they hope to shape the way healthcare will be delivered in the future by developing world-class new buildings.

Professor Ashok Handa, Professor of Vascular Surgery and Director of Healthcare Design Leadership CIC, said: “We recognised the need for this type of training and wanted to utilise our combined skills and experience to support NHS leaders in a variety of roles within the healthcare system, be it clinician, manager, estates team or a chief exec. It was important to us to deliver world class training, on a not-for-profit basis, at the lowest possible cost to the NHS.”

Kate Bradley, Senior Consultant at MJ Medical and Director of Healthcare Design Leadership CIC said: “We are really excited to put together this comprehensive training programme. The more we discussed the idea with industry colleagues, the more enthusiasm we generated. This has enabled us to build a multi-disciplinary team of industry leaders, with decades of experience in planning and delivering new healthcare buildings in the UK and internationally. All of our team agreed to provide their time pro bono and share the belief that the course generates genuine social value, which aligns perfectly with our collective passion to support the NHS.”

Robert Etchell, Director of Llewellyn Davis and Director of Healthcare Design Leadership CIC added: “We strongly believe that by supporting NHS teams to enhance their skills in the nexus of hospital development, the healthcare buildings of the future will be truly transformational, fit for future generations and excellent value, which, as healthcare designers, is something we always strive to achieve. The launch of Healthcare Design Leadership is a major step in effecting long-term improvements to ensure that we are well placed to support the evolving health and wellbeing needs of our communities.”

Healthcare Design Leadership delivers its CPD accredited training in a variety of ways, including bespoke tailored courses for individual NHS Trusts and an annual two-day residential course at St Catherine’s College, University of Oxford, which is open to all. The next residential course will take place 22 and 23 March 2023.

Having already delivered training to over 50 people at several acute London Trusts embarking on major hospital redevelopment projects, the overwhelming feedback on the course was very positive, with 100% of attendees saying they would recommend the course to a colleague.

More information on Healthcare Design Leadership is available at: www.healthcaredesignleadership.com

To enquire about training options for your Trust, or about attending our two-day residential course, please email info@healthcaredesignleadership.com.

Ends

For more information please contact:

Kate Bradley – Director, Healthcare Design Leadership CIC
Email: info@healthcaredesignleadership.com

Notes to Editors:

About Healthcare Design Leadership CIC

Healthcare Design Leadership CIC is a not-for-profit community interest company providing training on healthcare facility design and development to NHS personnel. A collaboration between healthcare planners MJ Medical, specialist healthcare architects Llewelyn Davies, and Professor Ashok Handa, Professor of Vascular Surgery and Director of Teaching in Surgery at the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences at the University of Oxford, Healthcare Design Leadership aims to provide NHS personnel with the skills, knowledge, and tools to maximise the value and impact of their participation in capital development projects, helping NHS Trusts to become an informed client at all levels.

www.healthcaredesignleadership.com