Modernising the NHS estate doesn’t always require new infrastructure

Almost two thirds of NHS estate leaders say ageing infrastructure is the biggest barrier to reducing backlog maintenance, according to new research from NHS Property Services (NHSPS).

Of those surveyed, 63% identified ageing infrastructure as the biggest barrier, ahead of funding at 53%, and the scale of the maintenance backlog itself at 38%. With the cost of backlog maintenance now standing at £15.9 billion, NHS organisations face the challenge of modernising their estates while making the best possible use of the buildings, resources, and budgets they already have.

Published alongside NHSPS’s new Maintaining the NHS Estate guide, the findings also point towards an important part of that modernisation: better use of technology and data. Simon Taylor, Director of Policy, Strategy and Capital Projects at NHS Property Services, said:

“Estate leaders are determined to tackle the ageing NHS estate they manage, and their message is loud and clear, they want the tools to help them improve compliance and take advantage of the latest technologies to harness useful data and increase utilisation.”

For hospitals, however, adopting new technology does not necessarily have to mean installing more physical infrastructure. Many technologies designed to make hospitals smarter depend on additional hardware, from beacons and sensors to dedicated tracking infrastructure, which can bring its own requirements around installation, maintenance, cost, and future upgrades. But Navenio’s infrastructure-free indoor location technology takes a different approach.

By using the smartphones already carried by hospital teams to provide room-level location awareness, without requiring beacons, sensors or additional location hardware to be installed throughout the estate, Navenio gives hospitals a way to introduce real-time operational visibility without adding another physical infrastructure layer.

The technology can help organisations understand where people and resources are, intelligently allocate tasks to the right person based on their location and availability, and build a clearer picture of how work actually moves through the hospital.

The NHSPS guide emphasises that tackling backlog maintenance is not simply about repairing or replacing buildings. It also means understanding the estate, releasing capacity, and improving utilisation. This is where greater operational visibility can complement traditional estate data.

Information about the condition, cost and capacity of buildings tells leaders an important part of the story. Real-time operational data can add another layer, showing how spaces, staff and resources are actually being used as care is delivered.

Together, those insights can help organisations identify inefficiencies, understand demand and make more informed decisions about how existing capacity is used, as Simon Taylor added:

“The NHS already possesses much of the expertise, framework and data required to improve estate performance. The task is achievable; success depends on how decisions are made, how evidence is used and how effectively leaders are aligned from board level through to operational teams.”

As NHS organisations consider how best to modernise their estates, technology has an important role to play. But modernisation does not always have to start with installing something new. Sometimes, making an estate smarter starts with seeing and using what is already there more effectively.