Concern at mounting hospital repair costs
SOUTHPORT and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust is facing a soaring backlog of “high” or “significant” risk maintenance repair, the Labour Party in Southport have warned.
The party say that the issue is threatening Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust’s capability.
The town’s Labour Party said that new figures reveal that the trust’s repair bill backlog for maintenance in the categories has almost doubled in just three years.
A spokesperson said: “The NHS defines ‘high risk’ maintenance as work that is so pressing that it ‘must be addressed with urgent priority in order to prevent catastrophic failure’.
“The local NHS trust’s repair bill for unaddressed high or significant risk work now stands at £2,154,600 – a near 100% increase during the period from the previous £1,081,100.
“The trust is currently struggling under a £29m deficit due to lack of government funding and is currently reviewing its future options.”
Labour’s candidate for Southport, Liz Savage, says the figures show how little the government really cares about the NHS or local residents.
Ms Savage said: “The government’s record on this is shocking and they are playing with the safety of Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust patients and staff – so why isn’t Damien Moore calling for Tory cuts to be cancelled?
“We’re all being let down by a government that won’t pay for the vital basic repairs needed.
“Our doctors and nurses in Southport and Ormskirk work extremely hard to look after us and the people we love, while the Government is then putting us and the people who care for us potential danger.
“It’s appalling.” Ms Savage took a swipe at Southport MP Damien Moore, who she believed had “fundamentally failed” in his role by not applying pressure to the Prime Minister to cancel proposed cuts.
“Worryingly, just like with police funding, Damien into Moore still hasn’t called on Theresa May to cancel the cuts she’s got planned for the next four years.
“If you’re the MP for this area, but you don’t support its people and its public services, then you’ve fundamentally failed.“
A Labour spokesman added: “The figures produced by the House of Commons Library show that the backlog has increased in every region in England, but, in the North West, it has rocketed by 42% to £270m.
“Nationally, the backlog for high or significant risk repairs under this government now stands at over a staggering £3bn.
“Labour has previously revealed a dossier of serious incidents which occurred as a result of the maintenance backlog.
“These included patients being forced to sleep in coats because of freezing ward temperatures; leaks from a ceiling onto an operating table, forcing patients to be re-routed to other theatres and blocked drains causing sewage to seep into a clinical area.”
Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, has this week called on ministers to urgently provide funding in this week’s budget to eradicate the mounting backlog which is putting patients and staff at risk.
Labour has pledged an additional £10bn of capital funding to ensure NHS buildings and IT systems were fit for purpose.
Deputy chief executive of Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust, Therese Patten, said: “We constantly inspect, risk assess and invest in our buildings to ensure they are safe for patients and staff.
“There will always be improvements needed when managing large hospital buildings.
“These change from year to year and we address them in order of priority.
“Some investments are high-profile, such as the £1.25m upgrade of A&E at Southport hosp-ital which will be completed shortly before Christmas.
“We also spend significant sums on ‘behindthe-scenes’ improvements, such as £100,000 recently ensuring sewage is safely disposed of.”