East Ayrshire Community Hospital
Supporting the NHS in delivering vital healthcare infrastructure to local communities in East Ayrshire.
Quality health care contributes greatly to people living longer and healthier lives. The efficient delivery of healthcare for elderly patients in Cumnock, Scotland needed to improve, to ensure that patients could receive the services they required.
In 2000, the Ayrshire and Arran NHS Board delivered East Ayrshire Community Hospital (EACH) in response to the surrounding elderly population’s need for healthcare services to be carried out in a more domestic atmosphere.
The vision for EACH was to deliver healthcare as close to home as possible, supported by a network of community services with safe, effective and timely access to high quality specialist services for those whose needs could not be met in the community.
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The challenge
Ayrshire and Arran Primary Care NHS was one of the first Trusts in the Scottish health service to procure this type of project through a PFI initiative. Therefore, the Trust required a partner with expertise in public private partnerships contracts and the capabilities to support them in the delivery and ongoing management of this this vital infrastructure.
In 1999 after a 4-year procurement period, Invesis were awarded the contract to design, build, finance and maintain the hospital, managing all non-clinical services for 25 years. Invesis provided 100% of the equity for the project.
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Capital Value
The solution
By using the PFI contract approach and partnering with Invesis, the Ayrshire and Arran NHS Board delivered the hospital four months in advance of the original schedule. Construction works were carried out by our long-term partner BAM Construct UK, and facilities management services by BAM FM, who will continue to deliver managed services within the hospital until 2025.
Fostering positive relationships with the Trust and our partners was key to the success of the project. Iain Harris, Head of Concessions UK said, ‘The success of the project is attributed to excellent collaboration between all parties, high quality execution of facilities management services and having a consistent project team’.
He adds, ‘Invesis has been involved in this project for over 25 years, I personally have been involved since April 1999 and the project has been a joy to work on. We have had a fantastic relationship with the client over the full duration of the project and it leaves me feeling a little sad that this now comes to an end. It has however been a very satisfying end with both the client and Invesis getting what they wanted and I wish everyone involved in running of the hospital the very best for the future’.In 2021, Invesis returned ownership of East Ayrshire Community Hospital to NHS Ayrshire and Arran, four years before the originally contracted date in 2025. The Trust wished to voluntarily terminate the agreement, to re-purpose the hospital to serve the future care needs of the people of East Ayrshire.
Exiting the contract early was not possible, however, Invesis found an innovative solution to allow the Trust to take control. The Trust praised the role played by Invesis both in the hand back process and in the 21-year partnership.
