Optimizing healthcare facility value through better briefing and optioneering

There have been concerns over the capability of most National Health Service (NHS) hospitals to demonstrate best value in providing non-clinical service to NHS trust customers. In response to the need to demonstrate the Whole Life Value (WLV) of healthcare facilities, the briefing and project optioneering processes need to be tackled. This paper investigates the role of strategic briefing and optioneering (option selection) in creating and delivering WLV for both first and future generation stakeholders. Effective construction briefing relies on, among others, effective capture, analysis and use of information (needs and requirements) from all stakeholders to inform project options. It is also believed that project and facility strategy must be directly linked with the specific needs and requirements (among other things) in order to reflect exactly what the stakeholders and end-users value in a built environment. The paper reviews the underlying philosophies and attempts to make sense of a probable theoretical linkage between the three concepts: WLV, strategic briefing and optioneering. Building on the available literature, the paper introduces a research in progress which is reviewing WLV of healthcare facilities and how to improve it. The results from WLV and briefing literature are pointing towards the early involvement of stakeholders, including endusers as a way forward to achieving long-lasting value.