£5M NEEDED FOR ‘URGENT’ HOSPITAL REPAIRS
‘HIGH RISK’ MAINTENANCE BACKLOG
ALMOST £5million is needed for repairs to prevent “catastrophic failures” at hospitals in Coventry and Warwickshire – and the problem is getting worse.
Latest figures show those running hospitals in the region have identified £4.7million worth of work needed to tackle their “high risk” maintenance backlog in 2018/19.
These are defined as repairs and replacements that must be addressed as an urgent priority in order to prevent catastrophic failure, major disruption to clinical services or deficiencies in safety liable to cause serious injury or prosecution.
The amount needed was up from £4.6million in 2017/18.
A further £4.6million was identified by the hospital trusts to clear their “significant risk” maintenance backlog.
While these are less serious problems than those categorised as “high risk”, they still need to be done as a priority to avoid risk to healthcare delivery or safety.
The figure that needed to be spent in 2018/19 was down from £5.7million in 2017/18.
Of the hospitals in the area, those that need the most work are the Hospital of St Cross with £4,525,000 high risk backlog and, for significant risk back-log, Hospital of St Cross with £2,280,000 and the George Eliot Hospital with £2,016,081.
A spokesman for Coventry & Warwickshire Health and Care Partnership on behalf of the hospitals in Coventry and Warwickshire explained that plans are in place to tackle the back-log problems.
“There are several long-term systemwide projects ongoing designed to reduce maintenance backlog across our estate,” they said.
“We have also prioritised capital investment bids which will in turn assist in its reduction. “It is also important to understand that of the £4.7million total, almost a third (£1.5million) is attributable to buildings on the older part of the George Elliot Hospital site which are now decommissioned and therefore no longer in use.”
There are several long-term systemwide projects ongoing designed to reduce maintenance backlog