NHS Estates Technical Standards & Guidance Programme

The NHS England Technical Standards and Guidance (TSG) Programme is responsible for publication of Health Building Notes (HBNs) and Health Technical Memoranda (HTMs). These have been provided to the NHS since the 1960s, but in 2017 responsibility was discharged from DHSC to NHS Improvement (now NHS England), within the national NHS Estates and Facilities division.

Producing TSG requires a specialist skill set, including architects, health planners, engineers, technical author and editorial skills. Since 2018 external specialist consultancy support has been procured to provide the necessary resource and expertise so NHS England can progress updates.

The NHS Estates Technical Standards and Guidance Programme team have responsibility to support the NHS Constitution right for patients to be cared for in a “clean, safe, secure and suitable environment” through publication of a suite of technical guidance documents, available free of charge and disseminated via the NHS England website https://www.england.nhs.uk/estates/ Health Building Notes (HBNs) give best practice guidance on the design and planning of new healthcare buildings and adaptation or extension of existing facilities.

Health Technical Memoranda (HTMs) give comprehensive advice and guidance on the design, installation and operation of specialised building and engineering technology used in the delivery of healthcare. Specific skills required depend on the nature and coverage of individual guidance documents.

Some will be provided by NHS England staff, but the majority of the work to deliver these documents will need to be provided by external suppliers: Scoping – review existing guidance, both NHS related and more widely, to determine the specification of the guidance to be produced;

Production – work with the specified teams and stakeholders to develop the guidance, test and edit it; Engagement with the appropriate stakeholders from NHS England, DHSC, across the NHS and relevant industry.

Professional services needed include: Technical Authors

Subject Matter Experts Technical Editors

Other specialist skillsets not available within NHS England, including healthcare architects, healthcare planners, engineers (e.g. mechanical, electrical, decontamination, fire) with specialist healthcare experience, medical equipment specialists, etc. Project and Programme Management (PMO) resource to manage delivery of the programme and relevant interfaces.