The Hampshire & Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust Estates and Facilities Team has gone above and beyond over the past year, demonstrating an exceptional commitment to improving the experience of staff & service users both on and off the wards. Their work shows a sustained focus on enhancing people’s lives, creating better care environments, and embedding the voices of clinical teams and service users into every stage of maintenance, project development, and strategic planning.
As a newly formed team brought together from two legacy estates organisations—alongside mental health, learning disability, and CAMHS services previously delivered by two others—they have rapidly united around a shared ambition: to deliver safe, high‑quality, therapeutic environments across the Trust. This achievement is significant. Integrating different systems, standards, and cultures is a complex process, yet the team has not only ensured continuity of service but has also raised expectations of what an estate’s function can contribute to patient care.
A key strength has been their commitment to genuine collaboration. By actively involving clinical teams in decision‑making, they ensure that maintenance work, refurbishments, and new developments are grounded in real clinical need and informed by the lived experiences of staff and service users. This approach has resulted in improvements that are not merely functional but thoughtfully designed to support safety, dignity, and therapeutic benefit.
Their dedication to improving the service user experience is especially evident in their work around dementia‑friendly and neurodiversity‑supportive environments. Through multidisciplinary engagement—including clinicians, therapists, carers, estates specialists, and people with lived experience—they have helped develop estates guidance that promotes cognitive accessibility, sensory comfort, and person‑centred care. Crucially, they have gone beyond producing guidance by partnering with teams to translate these principles into tangible projects and environmental enhancements that make an immediate difference to wellbeing.
At the same time, the team has supported a strong focus on the Trust’s long‑term sustainability commitments. They continue to align estates improvements with the organisation’s journey toward net‑zero carbon, ensuring that enhancements to patient care are delivered with environmental responsibility at their core. This dual focus—creating better care environments today while building a greener, more sustainable estate for the future—proving a forward‑thinking approach supported by the trust, soon after organisational integration.
In just one year, the Estates and Facilities Team has shown what it truly means to go the extra mile. By working collaboratively, prioritising service users, raising standards, and shaping environments that support outstanding care, they have shown not only technical excellence and operational reliability but also compassion, teamwork, and an unwavering commitment to improving people’s lives.
