The NHS 10-Year Plan marks a turning point for the UK healthcare estate, focusing on adaptability, resilience, and long-term sustainability. As NHS trusts work to modernise outdated infrastructure and tackle growing patient demand, industry experts are calling for smarter approaches to estate planning and investment.
In a recent interview, Hayley Smith, Strategy and Transformation Director at Darwin Group, highlighted key challenges facing NHS estate development:
“The NHS faces a rapidly evolving healthcare landscape—new care models, more complex needs, and growing care demands. However, its physical estate has struggled to evolve and keep pace. In some instances, buildings are even deemed unsafe due to repair backlogs.”
One of the biggest hurdles remains the inflexible nature of many existing NHS facilities, restricting their ability to adapt to changing patient care requirements. Hayley advocates for a more dynamic, system-wide approach, ensuring that healthcare spaces can evolve alongside new demands.
Adaptability isn’t just about construction speed; it’s about future-proofing healthcare spaces with materials and finishes that support long-term use, infection prevention, and ease of maintenance. Trovex shares this vision, ensuring that critical spaces—whether in acute care, mental health, or community settings—are designed with hygiene and durability at their core.
“We believe adaptable infrastructure is essential for unlocking the NHS’s potential. Outdated, rigid estates restrict the ability to meet growing patient needs and adapt to advancements in healthcare.”
With this in mind, modular construction solutions, such as Darwin Group’s On-Demand Healthcare Facilities, are increasingly being used to address urgent care requirements while maintaining the highest standards of infection control. The ability to deploy scalable, patient-centred facilities that evolve with NHS priorities aligns with Trovex’s One Product Family, One Hygienic Finish philosophy.
Trovex products—including Hygipod IPS, Hygidoor, Hygiscreen, and hygienic wall finishes—help create a seamless, hygienic environment that supports infection control while ensuring design consistency across multiple healthcare settings.
A significant challenge in modernising the NHS estate is ensuring that new builds—particularly those designed for short- and medium-term healthcare demands—maintain the same level of hygiene, resilience, and cost-efficiency as permanent structures. Hayley notes:
“Our On-Demand facilities evolve with the needs of care, accommodating surges in demand, advancements in care complexities, and changing healthcare delivery models. They can assist in decanting services during repairs and refurbishments, or be relocated to support neighbouring communities or organisations, providing an adaptable solution that prioritises efficiency, staff experience, and improved patient pathways.”
Trovex products are designed to integrate seamlessly within both permanent and flexible healthcare spaces, supporting infection control, ease of cleaning, and long-term performance. Whether it’s an interim diagnostic hub, a community healthcare centre, or a modular hospital ward, the ability to maintain a consistent, high-quality finish across the estate reduces the complexity of ongoing maintenance and compliance.
To truly realise the NHS 10-Year Plan, Hayley argues that policy and investment frameworks need to evolve to support more agile solutions:
“Long-term, it’s essential that estates are seen as a core part of the NHS 10-Year Plan—not as an afterthought. This requires linking estate planning with outcomes like patient experience, workforce wellbeing, and net-zero goals.”
From rapid deployment projects to major hospital refurbishments, hygiene, durability, and ease of maintenance must remain at the heart of every solution. The more seamless and adaptable healthcare environments become, the more effectively they can serve both patients and clinical staff in the years to come.
Trovex looks forward to supporting healthcare estate transformation by delivering hygienic, durable, and future-ready solutions that align with this evolving vision.