- Agreement supports Government’s 10 Year Health Plan priority to drive digital innovation across the NHS
- Expansion of digital booking platform follows collaborative pilot delivering cost and time benefits to the wider health system
- 2025/26 rollout expected to increase space optimisation and drive further value for the NHS
NHS Property Services is pleased to announce Community Health Partnerships (CHP) has signed an agreement for the provision of NHS Open Space, following a successful pilot in partnership with Staffordshire & Stoke-on-Trent and South-East London ICBs.
NHS Open Space provides a modern online portal, enabling users to view building details, photographs and floor plans as well as accessing room availability, accessibility information and opening hours.
The pilot delivered an 83% positive user satisfaction rate, with 79% of users likely to book space again following their experience.
The platform allows both NHS teams and pre-approved external organisations – including charities, local public sector and local providers – to book clinical and non-clinical space supported by robust and intuitive utilisation and data analytics, actively supporting the government’s 10 Year Health Plan commitment to shift the NHS from analogue to digital systems over the next decade.
The award-winning digital booking platform, developed by NHS Property Services and recognised by industry experts*, is designed to help NHS landlords better manage their estate by improving utilisation and enabling flexible service delivery.
The newly announced agreement follows a successful pilot, run by CHP in collaboration with South-East London and Staffordshire & Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), with existing bookable room users and CHP tenants.
The trial demonstrated measurable improvements in estate utilisation across 18 CHP sites with 151 bookable rooms, maximising the use of available space for clinicians and other users, while reducing the time spent by NHS colleagues on administrative processes, unlocking greater value and freeing them up to focus on patient care.
“The team understood the ICB’s requirements and supported delivery of the expected outcomes,” said Tony Rackstraw, Programme Director at South-East London ICB. “We are confident that NHS Open Space will become the predominant booking application for our estate.”
Chris King, Head of NHS Open Space, said: “We are thrilled that CHP, ICBs, tenants and partners have seen such great results since adopting NHS Open Space in the pilot locations. The NHS Open Space solution is about making every square metre of the NHS estate work harder for patients, staff, and communities, and the success of this pilot demonstrates how NHS Open Space can transform estate management, reduce administrative burden, and unlock new opportunities for care delivery.”
Kate Ronan, Director of Digital, Data & Technology at Community Health Partnerships, added: “From the NHS Open Space pilot, we saw some really positive and tangible benefits delivered for our partners, room users, and tenants. Based on this success, CHP has agreed to work with NHS Property Services on the wider roll out of NHS Open Space to more of CHP’s bookable estate. We are working collaboratively with ICBs on this project alongside other partners over the next two years, and look forward to working with NHSPS to help services better support their patients in the local community.”
CHP are currently working with ICBs across England to explore options to roll out NHS Open Space to appropriate healthcare buildings across their portfolio of 308 Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) buildings, with four ICBs confirmed for a phased rollout to 18 buildings in 2025/6.
The initiative supports the NHS’s strategic shift toward neighbourhood health services from hospital-based care, also outlined in the Government’s 10-Year Plan as one of the three key priorities.
The success of the pilot and subsequent partnership also follows the delivery of NHSPS’ recent Space Optimisation Survey which revealed that almost 9 out of 10 NHS leaders have a low to medium awareness of current space utilisation across their estate.
Following this research, the property experts published their NHS Estate Optimisation Guide, designed to help the NHS best approach the process of assessing and adapting its spaces with more than 500 copies downloaded since it went live this summer.
For more details read the NHS Open Space CHP Pilot case study here: NHS Property Services | NHS Open Space and Community Health Partnerships
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