Delegates urged to 'raise their game'

The Health and Social Care Act's potential implications for the healthcare estates community, how the NHS and private sectors can better collaborate to get the most of out of their built and other assets, how estates professionals can shape and inform future guidance, and the role of the new NHS Property Services Company (NHS PropCo), were among the hot topics addressed at this year's IHEEM Healthcare Estates conference in Manchester. Examined first, however, in the opening keynote, were the broader challenges posed by the new healthcare landscape, albeit one where estates teams will still face many of the same key issues--a sizeable maintenance backlog, the need to cost-effectively provide a 'safe, suitable and clean' environment, an ageing demographic, ever higher patient expectations, and ever more watchful regulators.