NHS Property Services has raised £203m from the sale of 295 NHS properties between 2013 and 2017.
Sales of empty and unneeded NHS sites peaked at £67.1m between 59 assets in the 2015-16 financial year. The number fell to £53.3m in 2016-17.
The sites were a mix of unused clinics, health centres and non-clinical buildings, and land.
NHS Property Services is instructed to sell unneeded sites once the organisations that pay for local healthcare declare a property surplus to NHS requirements. Despite being unused, these sites are a drag on the health service’s resources owing to property-related costs such as rates, security and basic maintenance.
The company said the number of requirements to sell property varied from year to year, which is why total figures fell in 2017.
Kieran Kinsella, head of investment management at NHS Property Services, said: “Our clear goal is always to generate maximum value from the sale of surplus NHS land, so we can reinvest in the NHS estate.
“By selling land that the NHS no longer needs, we can help increase efficiency and reduce the operational costs of the estate we manage.”
The company is currently marketing the former Marie Foster Centre site in Barnet, north London, which has been vacant since clinical services moved out in 2011. Montagu Evans has been appointed to advise on the sale of the site’s two buildings and 1.2 acres of open land.
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