Call for Presentations
Submission deadline: 15th May 2026
Standardising the Health Estate: Benefits, Boundaries and Risks
Main Programme 21-22 September; Study Tours 23 September, Dublin
As health systems look to control costs, improve patient outcomes, ensure resilience and contribute to sustainability goals, attention increasingly turns to the option of standardising different components of the health estate. In broad terms, this means making the infrastructure more uniform and consistent – avoiding unnecessary variation and locking in best practice.
While standardisation can undoubtedly offer some benefits, it is also subject to boundaries and risks. The 2026 EuHPN workshop will explore these three domains of standardisation, as well as other associated and important topics. Our call for presentations is now open, and we are asking for responses in the following areas.
1. Benefits. Can standardisation of the estate make health services more efficient and productive services? Can it lead to better and more predictable clinical outcomes, improved staff satisfaction, reductions in energy use and waste, and lower costs associated with planning, design, construction and maintenance? If so, how will it achieve this?
2. Boundaries. Does standardisation apply to general or specific levels of health facility design and construction? In other words, should it focus on departmental layout and general arrangement of clinical and non-clinical spaces, or should it also include much more granular design choices, down to the details of finishings, room fixtures and equipment choice?
3. Risks. Could additional standardisation lead to loss of capacity for innovation and flexibility, inability to respond to local contexts, and failure to account for future health system needs? How can we mitigate these risks and balance the pros and cons?
4. Standards and guidance. In a more standardised health estate, what will be the future role of standards and guidance documents? Should they migrate to being more or less prescriptive? And who will or should produce them?
5. Utilisation and optimisation of the existing estate. How can we make the most effective use of existing land, buildings and equipment to meet modern standards for clinically excellent, patient focused, sustainable healthcare environments?
6. International comparisons. Can we find examples of success, or reasons for caution, from comparisons between standardisation of the estate, or optimising the use of existing facilities, in different countries?
Information for presenters
Most presentation slots at the workshop will be 20 – 25 minutes long, and will be grouped into thematic sessions. Where time allows, we encourage presenters to take part in panel discussions at the end of each session, when the audience can comment and ask questions. Sessions are chaired and facilitated by subject experts, who may also lead roundtable discussions.
We ask presenters for permission to publish their materials on our website, following the workshop, but if that is not possible for any reason then we respect the presenter’s wishes.
The 2026 venue will be the Thomas Prior Hall, Dublin. This is an historic and architecturally signficant building in the Ballsbridge area of Dublin, with excellent conference facilities, conveniently adjoining the Clayton hotel and with good access to other hotels and the city centre.
Presenters are responsible for arranging, and paying for, their own travel and accommodation. They should also register to attend the workshop, via our website, and will be offered a modest discount on the workshop fee. Further details about registration, accommodation and travel options will be available shortly on our website.
How to submit a proposal
We are looking forward to welcoming speakers from across Europe and beyond, representing the worlds of health system planning and finance, health estates management, healthcare architecture and engineering, health facility construction, and healthcare infrastructure research. Technology and supply chain professionals are also very welcome to submit proposals. Please note that your proposal may cover more than one of the relevant topics.
If YOU would like to contribute, with a case study or research findings, please complete the form below by 15th May 2026. If you have any questions, contact us via info@euhpn.eu.
We cannot guarantee acceptance of all proposals, but we will try to accommodate as many as possible. Our aim is to confirm all accepted presentation proposals by early June.
You can submit a proposal to present as an individual or as a group of speakers. If the latter, please remember that presenter slots are usually 20-25 minutes, which limits the time available to each speaker.