Health bosses in bid to find homes for workers

Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust are proud a founding member of NHS Homes Alliance – a collaboration of representatives from public and private sector organisations including NHS Trusts, pension funds, financial, legal and real estate experts, housing associations, architects and developers.
The NHS Homes Alliances has launched a White Paper ‘A people driven approach: delivering NHS homes’ which sets out a vision for using the NHS estate to build affordable, high-quality, and sustainable homes near to hospitals and clinics. Thus, boosting NHS and social care staff retention and recruitment, ultimately improving the quality of care and providing better services for all.
Caroline Cozens, director of capital development at the Trust, has not only contributed to the development of the white paper but was also one of the sector experts on the panel at the launch event where she was joined by Victoria Cave (Deputy Director Infrastructure Strategy and Capital Funding, Department of Health and Social Care), Alexandra Notay (Placemaking and Investment Director, PfP Capital), Roli Martin (Managing Director and Head of Finance & Partnerships, Global City Futures), Sarah Horden (Non-Executive Director, Oxford University Hospitals NHS FT, CEO of regeneration consultancy Perspicio). The panel was chaired by Peter Murray OBE (Co-Founder of NLA and Founder of the London Festival of Architecture).
Sarah Hordern, who spearheaded the development of the White Paper, provided an overview of the challenges and the recommendations detailed within the document. Sarah also welcomed the announcement of the joint ministerial taskforce which will take the White Paper's recommendations forward and help find solutions to the urgent need for decent, affordable housing for our talented NHS and social care workforce.
She said: “We have convened an important conversation around the provision of NHS homes. By capitalising on the collaborative strength already building through the NHS Homes Alliance, we look forward to supporting the taskforce and driving forward our mission of ensuring that talented people working in the NHS and social care have housing that supports their needs and can be recruited without the barrier of a lack of decent, affordable places to live close to where they work.”
Caroline said: “Our staff tell us that they often struggle to find affordable housing in our local communities and this affects about ability to attract and retain people in our local NHS. We are passionate about supporting our people to live well and this includes doing what we can to ensure there is suitable, safe, affordable housing available to them close to their work.”
The White Paper recommends that developments are built based on the specific recruitment and staff retention needs of local health and social care services, according to NHS Trusts and ICBs, and provide different types of homes that work for the required staff at all levels of primary, secondary and social care; from junior doctors, nurses and social care workers, to porters and cleaners.