About the day
The professional associations representing the majority of estates and facilities services across UK healthcare jointly announced the launch of the National Healthcare Estates & Facilities Day to celebrate the essential work of all E&F professions in the delivery of health and social care to people across the UK.
Nationally, estates and facilities services are estimated to make up 8% of the NHS workforce, that’s a huge 250,000 people.
The whole country can see what our E&F teams do on a daily basis, use the hash tag #HealthEFMDay when you are sharing how you are celebrating on the day!
EFM day 2026
The National Day in 2026 will be celebrated on Wednesday 17th June, so make sure you have plans in place to recognise & thank your E&F stars.This will be an occasion for us to celebrate the work of your Estates & Facilities heroes!
Five-year anniversary of the EFM day
The 2026 National Healthcare Estates and Facilities Day (EFM Day) will be a special one. It marks the five-year anniversary of the awareness day, which was launched to publicise and celebrate the work of all staff involved with the provision of estates and facilities (E&F) services in healthcare across all four nations of the UK. The 2026 celebration day will be held on Wednesday, June 17.
EFM Day is owned and organised by the Joint Associations Group, which comprises seven professional bodies* that support and represent staff working across the occupational groups providing those services within the NHS, wider health and social care and the wide range of commercial partners contracted to deliver services. The Group hopes that this year’s event will be even more special, as Trusts and their commercial partners help to celebrate the anniversary of the day, as well as their E&F staff, with imaginative activities, informative displays, tours and of course, don’t forget the birthday cakes!
Raising the profile of E&F professions
As well as recognising and celebrating the hard work of E&F staff – from porters to cleaners, reception staff to caterers, project teams to maintenance teams and more – EFM Day is also a great opportunity to raise awareness of career opportunities in these essential non-clinical roles which keep healthcare buildings operational, day-in day-out, and able to provide the very best patient care.
To help organisations to plan activities for the day, a range of downloadable resources is available now via the dedicated website where you can also register to take part in the day.
Members of the Joint Associations Group are:
- Association of Healthcare Cleaning Professionals (ahcp)
- Health Estates and Facilities Management Association (HEFMA)
- Hospital Caterers Association (HCA)
- Institute of Decontamination Sciences (IDSC)
- Institute of Healthcare Engineering & Estate Management (IHEEM)
- National Association of Healthcare Fire Officers (NAHFO)
- Society of Hospital Linen Services and Laundry Managers (SHLSLM)
Next steps
For more information about National Healthcare Estates & Facilities Day, please visit the website: www.healthcareEFMDay.org
National Healthcare Estates & Facilities Day graphic