The Colchester and Tendring NHS LIft Project 2004 and Realise Health Ltd

What is it? How does it all fit together? Who's involved?
What are we doing now? What are we trying to achieve?

On 7th July 2004 we were legally established!

Starting with the final question…………..the purpose of NHS Lift is to improve the standard of facilities that primary health services work from; that includes GP surgeries, health clinics and centres, one stop shops, joint locations with health, social care and other local authority services. The word "improve" means getting existing premises "fit for purpose" and providing new premises for effective delivery of services to the high standards expected of health and social care in the 21st century.

Those involved in primary care can testify to the lack of investment in these facilities; it has been a long long road to finally secure this investment and we are all naturally delighted that we have achieved this for Colchester and Tendring; we are at the forefront of the national programme for this investment.

Our first projects are to build a new primary health care centre in Colchester (services in the centre will include new renal dialysis facilities for North Essex) and a new Harwich and Dovercourt Hospital and Health Centre. This will bring £30m of investment into the area. This programme is different from what has gone before, it is not just about the first projects. NHS Lift is a contract for 25 years of development, investment and partnership working here in Colchester and Tendring. We are going to be very busy for a long time!

What is it?

NHS Lift is an entirely new approach to securing capital investment in primary health and social care. It is a public private partnership but it is not "PFI" (the private finance initiative)

NHS Lift is a long-term contractual relationship between a private sector property development and property management company, statutory local health services, local authorities, tenants and central government (Partnerships for Health)

A key difference is that, the Primary Care Trusts themselves (PCTs) are now also active, responsible and accountable members of the private company and are shareholders and directors of that company in their own right. This is unique in public private partnerships.

How does it all fit together?

On the 7th July 2004 contracts were signed that established two new legal entities:

- A private company called Realise Health Ltd.

- A Strategic Partnering Board for Colchester and Tendring NHS Lift under the majority control of the public bodies participating.

At the same time legal contracts were signed that bound these two new entities, the two Primary Care Trusts, the tenants of the first two new developments and the building and facilities management contractors, into legal agreements, some covering the next 25 years.

These legal documents covered:

- Shareholding (the Shareholders Agreement- SHA)
- How the partners work together on these and future schemes (The Strategic Partnering Agreement- SPA)
- The tenants' rights and obligations (the Lease Plus Agreement- LPA) and
- A range of sub contracts.

The NHS Lift Strategic Partnering Board is the focus of all participant and partner organisations. On their behalf its role is to produce and agree annual development plans, approve which projects go forward, monitor the performance of Realise Health Ltd, ensure value for money and improve partnership working across all organisations.
It is this group that will ensure plans are properly integrated across the boundaries of public sector organisations. For the first time genuine partnership working will be a pre-requisite to any development going ahead.

The job of Realise Health Ltd is to deliver the premises development and property management elements of the participant organisations' service delivery plans. The company are not however just reactive to this but are genuine partners in the development of options and bring expertise to the table to highlight potential opportunities for the future. The business plan for Realise Health Ltd is drawn up to deliver the premises element of the Strategic Service Development Plan (SSDP) of the participant organisations. Realise Health Ltd will raise finance, build and operate premises and collect lease income from tenants.

Who's involved?

In August 2004 Realise Health Ltd appointed their Chief Executive and non-executive Chairman. Of the five Directors of the Realise Health Board, Mill Group (the company that successfully bid for the Colchester and Tendring NHS Lift project through EU procurement) provide three, Partnerships for Health (PfH is itself a public private partnership between Partnerships UK and the Treasury) provide one Director and the NHS provides one Public Sector Director. This 60/20/20 percentage split is also mirrored in the share holding of Realise Health Ltd.

The Strategic Partnering Board (SPB)

The key partners are:

Colchester PCT, Tendring PCT, Colchester Borough Council, Tendring District Council, Essex County Council, Essex Rivers Healthcare NHS Trust, The North Essex Mental Health partnership NHS Trust, The Essex Ambulance NHS Trust, The Essex Strategic Health Authority and, of course, Realise Health Ltd.

Voting members of the Strategic Partnering Board are:
The Chief Executive of Colchester PCT
The Chief Executive of Tendring PCT
The Chief Executive of Realise Health Ltd

Voting membership is restricted to participant organisations and will be extended whenever an additional public body formally signs up to the project. Non-voting membership is taken from a wide range of partner organisations. The wider membership includes:

The Public Sector Director of Realise Health Ltd, a Tenants' representative, the Chairman, Finance Director, Professional Executive Chairman and Service Planning lead of Colchester PCT and Tendring PCT and a GP champion.

The NHS Lift support office is a key resource in making the project work. Not only does it support the partnering work of the SPB and Realise Health Ltd, but it also commissions new premises on behalf of clients; in the first case on behalf of the two PCTs. The support office provides administrative, estates and project management expertise.

What are we doing now?

We are getting final plans for the Bluebell Centre and the Gt Clacton and Holland developments to approval stage.

We are bringing the next round of schemes together into the next SSDP and ensuring internal consistency with PCT and Local Authority planning processes.

Construction work is underway and we have started the commissioning process for the Colchester Primary Care Centre and the Harwich and Dovercourt development.

We are exploring the fine detail of formal participant sign up of our partners in Health and Local Authorities.

We are looking further forward to implementing schemes across the whole geographical area, consulting and involving patients and the public in our plans.

We are developing the working policies and procedures for the SPB and Realise Health Ltd.

We are starting performance monitoring of Realise Health Ltd. We are appointing a tenants' representative to ensure the first projects go according to plan.

Peter Mickelsen - Chairman Strategic Partnering Board

Contact us

If you would like to know more or get involved in this project contact:

The NHS Lift office on:

01206 288596 or email yvonne.gibbs@colchester-pct.nhs.uk

Realise Health Ltd email admin@realisehealth.co.uk