At a time when the nation's public finances are under strain, there has been far-reaching debate as to where efficiencies can be made by the government.
The National Health Service (NHS) is one area earmarked for major reform, but already one trust is embarking on a project among the first of its kind in the UK and one that it hopes will deliver operational and financial returns.
Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH), a foundation trust responsible for Addenbrooke's and the Rosie hospitals in Cambridge, is looking to secure a strategic partner for The Forum – a multi-million pound development planned at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus (CBC).
The Forum is designed to cater for the future expansion of the CBC and will be situated on a 35,500sq m (382,119sq ft) site. Among its components will be a commercial hotel – part of CUH's bid to pursue "new and innovative approaches" to developing the facilities.
"The Forum is a combination of a hotel, an education and conferencing centre and private hospital," says CUH director of corporate development St Clair Armitage. "A partnership vehicle, which we will form jointly with our strategic partner, will be responsible for delivering all three elements."
Armitage explains that the strategic partner will determine the size and scale of The Forum, with the joint partnership vehicle to be responsible for the management of the facilities.
The planned development was born from a need for facilities to support the expanding CBC, says Armitage. Not only is the campus home to CUH's two hospitals, but also to a number of research companies including GlaxoSmithKline and the Wellcome Trust.
A NEW SOURCE OF REVENUE
But while the provision of accommodation and conference facilities is at the heart of the venture, there is another element to it. "There is a secondary requirement," says Armitage. "The trust wishes to receive a revenue stream from the development."
Armitage says that 100 per cent of revenue generated by the new hotel and The Forum is to be reinvested by CUH into supporting its NHS activities.
A CUH spokesperson added that both Addenbroke's and the Rosie already offer facilities for the relatives of patients who are visiting the hospitals for a long period of time. The primary purpose of the new hotel, as Armitage points out, will be to cater for the "variety of people" who use the CBC.
"Today, about 10,000 people come to work here on a daily basis. By the time the campus developments are complete, there should be somewhere in the region of 18,000-20,000 people coming to work here every day," he says.
"We want the hotel to be high quality," Armitage continues. "But we expect it will have, as most hotels do, a variety of facilities that will attract different rates at different times. We've said that the hotel and conferencing centre should include the ability to service conferences up to about 600 delegates. And it will include a variety of catering and other facilities as you would expect from a quality hotel."
CUH will not be responsible for operating facilities built as part of The Forum project; rather, it will be down to the new partnership vehicle that will be established alongside the strategic partner being sought by the trust.
The CUH is hoping to find a partner within the next 12 months, before work is carried out to finalise The Forum's design. The project is set to be completed in 2015 at the earliest.
Whether it offers a benchmark for other large NHS trusts to follow remains to be seen, but CUH's vision for The Forum has the potential to generate valuable revenue to support NHS activities at a time when government purse strings are being tightened.
