Vital institutions like healthcare value constantly improving their products and services for the benefit of their patients. Since healthcare facilities like hospitals are the lifeline refuge of many people whose lives are in line, improving and ensuring that their services are of top quality is a must.
It’s easy to suggest and point out what hospitals need to improve from patients’ perspectives. However, as a stakeholder and owner of the hospital, it’s one of the most challenging projects a hospital could undergo. When stakeholders pitch hospital renovation or expansion projects, they sacrifice many things for long-term improvements.
The truth is there are critical factors that a hospital’s management needs to work on before pitching a renovation or expansion project. Those factors must have the approval of other stakeholders investing in and relating to the hospital. It’s challenging for the management because the planning alone could take a year, and the construction project could take a toll on the hospital’s operations and profit income for years.
As a result, many hospitals choose to delay or not pursue their renovation and expansion projects. In this post, let’s look at things preventing them from undergoing a renovation or expansion project.
1 – The suitability of the property’s age and condition for construction.
Hospitals usually choose between a renovation or expansion when experiencing increasing patient demands. Hospital expansion plans aim to cater to those needs; to provide better services that cover a better range of health treatment and care. However, even though a hospital may have the budget for an expansion, they need to assess the property’s suitability for construction first.
There are many cases when a hospital or healthcare facility is no longer suitable to undergo a construction project because of its age and condition. On top of that, it’s also critical to understand that the quality of older properties is far from most building constructions today. That’s why, even though a hospital may want to expand or renovate, it couldn’t push through because of its property’s condition.
2 – Relocation concerns
Many huge hospitals undergoing a renovation or expansion project don’t need to worry about relocating their offices and patients because they can start the project in phases. Big hospitals can begin working on building projects in stages, allowing them to relocate the affected offices to another building in the hospital.
Hospitals like that are lucky and can smoothly move forward with their expansion projects. However, that’s not the case with many other hospitals. Many smaller hospitals don’t have the budget to rent a temporary hospital building to continue their operations. On top of that, many old hospital medical pieces of equipment are unsuitable for relocation to other properties because of electrical systems incompatibility.
3 – Internal management issues
Another thing that could prevent hospitals from expanding or renovating is ongoing internal management issues. Just like in any work environment, politics also exist in hospitals. People can keep a shut eye on these matters, but politics happen regardless of the size and reputation of the hospital.
As you know, hospitals play an essential role in society. Hence, having internal management issues is inevitable because the management is working towards making a hospital a better place for the benefit of patients. Some might take internal concerns negatively. But there are also cases when it’s necessary to help management assess and develop better plans for the hospital.
4 – Lack of support from sponsors, partners, and stakeholders
If you look at healthcare facilities like hospitals from a different perspective, you’ll see that it’s purely business. Many hospitals have sponsors and partners for financial and business matters. On top of that, having sponsors and partners provides exponential growth to healthcare facilities, especially hospitals.
Unfortunately, there are many cases when hospitals don’t receive enough support from their sponsors, partners, and stakeholders. As a result, hospitals decide not to pursue renovation and expansion plans. It is critical because the opinions and decisions of those three are necessary for a hospital’s operations.
5 – Lack of facility budget
One common factor that prevents hospitals from renovating or expanding is budget. Despite the demand and importance of hospitals, they are businesses that spend so much on their operations. According to research, there are three things that hospitals spend the most money on. They are wages and benefits; contracted employees and employed physicians; and medical supplies and prescription drugs.
It’s clear how costly those three things are to a business. But despite that, it’s clear how those three things are the backbone of a hospital operation. That’s why, despite the want for an expansion, many hospitals can’t risk spending their budget because there are more essential things to prioritise.
6 – Operation interruption
Earlier, I discussed in my second point (relocation concerns) that many hospitals don’t have the space to continue their operations. And if that’s the case for a hospital, its operation will be at risk once the construction project begins. Many hospitals with a tight budget can’t risk an operation interruption because it would disrupt their income source.
As a result, they have no choice but to continue operating despite the increase in their demands and lack of improvements in their services and patient experience.
7 – Unideal land area
Lastly is an unideal land area for expansions. There are cases when a hospital is capable of an expansion and has the budget for a project. However, the land area of the hospital may be limited and lacking.
Sometimes a hospital would bid a price for the lot area next to it to purchase. But the thing is, many landowners refuse to sell their land because they know the value of their estate in the future. Some hospitals are lucky to have neighbouring lands that are willing to negotiate. But many refuse to sell theirs despite the enticing purchase offer.
Renovating and expanding a hospital is a tedious and demanding process.
The seven points I shared state how tedious and demanding it is to pitch a hospital renovation or expansion. Hospitals must make sacrifices and choices for the overall and long-term benefit of their management, operations, and patients. After reading these points, what do you think is the factor that is stopping an old hospital near you from expanding or renovating? Surely, it has a reasonable decision on why it stays the same.
About the author:
Bianca Banda is a writer for Flex by MTX, a privately owned construction and engineering company that relentlessly champions the use of Modern Methods of Construction for social, economic, and environmental good.