Yeovil District Hospital Residential Keyworker Accommodation

Solving serious operational obstacles through estates

With a market-leading ability to unlock commercial challenges for health and care providers, Prime took the operational challenges Yeovil District Hospital faced and found estate solutions that became a catalyst for change.

When the recruitment and retention of staff at YDH become a critical risk factor for the hospital, Prime coordinated every aspect of this project, to deliver a new accommodation complex for NHS staff and students with transformative results.

Like many Trusts across the UK, Yeovil District Hospital has faced a continuous challenge in recruiting key nursing and clinical staff due to a depleted nationwide labour pool. The small size and rurality of sites like YDH compound this issue, which has led to an increased dependence on overseas recruitment.

In an attempt to tackle the shortage, the Trust had taken leases on 64 residential properties across the town to house internationally recruited staff. However, these leases had created a further set of challenges for the Trust and with the premises, often located a considerable distance from the hospital, travel was difficult for staff, while the nature of shared occupancy houses meant that standards fell short of expectations, impacting staff satisfaction and wellbeing. Instead of supporting recruitment, the accommodation was now a financial drain and recruitment still a key corporate risk.

With Prime already on board as part of a 15-year agreement to transform estate planning, the Board entrusted us to deliver a plan that not only supports staff recruitment and retention, but delivers a commercial model that improves the Trust’s financial position.

Following in-depth analysis of data on the original accommodation, Prime was able to present a viable financial case for brand new keyworker accommodation. With our expertise in sourcing, securing and consulting on development land, Prime developed a positive relationship with council planners and highway teams to regenerate a brownfield site, only 500m from the hospital.

With no cash resources to fund and manage the design, development and construction processes themselves, the Trust utilised Prime’s extensive experience in order to take action. Prime took on the initial risk, at a cost of around £750k, to secure the private land and after investment market testing, leveraged its expertise to secure £21m of funding.

The result? A brand new 176-bedroom complex that provides modern, high-quality accommodation and affordable housing to many of the hardworking and dedicated NHS staff and students of Yeovil District Hospital. A single strategic solution that tackled two critical risk factors for the Trust.

Developing space for change in health and care