Enabling intelligent space management across an NHS estate

About Eastbourne DIstrict General Hospital

Eastbourne District General Hospital is part of East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, providing acute and emergency services to the local population. Like many NHS facilities, the hospital operates under intense pressure to deliver excellent patient care while managing an ageing estate with limited capital budgets.

The Space Management Challenge

Hospitals are among the most complex buildings to manage. Clinical areas, consulting rooms, waiting spaces, administrative offices and support facilities all have different requirements and usage patterns. At Eastbourne, decisions about space allocation were largely based on historical schedules and anecdotal evidence rather than actual utilisation data.

This led to situations where some areas were consistently over-booked while others sat underused, directly impacting patient flow, staff efficiency and the trust's ability to plan for future needs.

Deploying Real-Time Intelligence

Twinview was implemented to provide objective, real-time data on how spaces across the hospital are actually being used. Occupancy sensors and integration with existing booking systems created a comprehensive picture of space utilisation. Key elements include:

• Room-level occupancy tracking across clinical and non-clinical areas
• Utilisation analytics showing actual vs. scheduled usage patterns
• Heatmap visualisations identifying peak demand periods and underused spaces
• Reporting tools for estates, clinical, and management teams

Evidence-Led Decision Making

With clear data on space utilisation, the trust's estates team could make evidence-based recommendations about room allocation, scheduling and capital planning. Clinical teams gained better insight into how their spaces were performing, enabling more effective patient pathway design.

The transparency provided by the platform also supported business cases for estate improvements, giving trust leadership confidence that investment decisions were backed by real operational data.

A Model for NHS Estates

The deployment at Eastbourne demonstrates how building intelligence technology can support the NHS's broader goals of efficiency, patient experience, and estate optimisation. The approach is now being evaluated for wider adoption across the trust's other facilities.