SUMMIT ASSET MANAGEMENT

Summit and Sandwell Primary Care Trust
23/02/2010

The Client

Employing 1300 staff, Sandwell Primary Care Trust (“Sandwell”) was formed in October 2006 following the merger of three existing Primary Care Trusts: Oldbury & Smethwick, Rowley Regis & Tipton and the Wednesbury & West Bromwich Primary Care Trust.

Sandwell serves a local registered population of approximately 320,000 and facilitates access to healthcare, treatment and promotional advice, whilst also supplying guidance and support for local carers. Doctors, dentists and pharmacists hold contracts with Sandwell to provide the local population with the first line healthcare they need, with Sandwell covering the subsequent cost of any hospital treatment, medicines and tests.

Local residents have access to 63 doctor’s surgeries, 76 pharmacies, 44 dental surgeries and 49 opticians. Other services provided by Sandwell include community nursing, health visiting, physiotherapy and speech and language therapy.

The Challenge

In 2008 professor the Lord Darzi of Denham KBE produced the NHS Next Stage report. This contained a series of recommendations and visions for change within the health service. Following publication of the report, a need was identified within Sandwell for the immediate expansion of local GP facilities, specifically the creation of three additional practices.

The expansion was needed in an environment where rapid planning consent was unlikely to be available and capital budgets were already under considerable strain.

The Solution

Without either the budget or planning permission for fixed surgeries, Sandwell chose to explore the concept of short-term (modular) GP surgeries.

The preference was to fund the new surgeries through an Operating Lease and once locations suitable for the construction of modular GP surgeries had been identified, Sandwell turned to Built Offsite (“BOS”), a business with 35 years experience within the modular and portable buildings industry. In turn, BOS turned to its funding partner, Summit Asset Management (“SAM”), a specialist Operating Lease funder with considerable experience in the funding of modular buildings.

SAM and BOS worked in partnership with Sandwell to provide a facility that allowed Sandwell to spread the cost of the three buildings over their expected useful lives.

The total project cost exceeded £3m and was delivered on time by BOS. Richard Pierce, the Managing Director of Built Offsite comments “This was a project that allowed us to demonstrate our particular skill set, delivering important infrastructure to local communities, on time and within budget. We were able to do so given our experience, and the unique skills of our strategic funding partner Summit who were highly responsive, able to deliver a genuine operating lease, quickly and with straightforward documentation”

Benefits

The flexibility of SAM’s financing facilities allowed Sandwell to match the cost of acquisition, deployment and fit out to the limited budget available allowing facilities to be delivered to each community when needed.

Project administration was simplified as supplier invoices were collated and paid by SAM.

Separate, flexible billing was provided for each of the three locations funded through the project, allowing each to be treated as separate on-going cost centres.