Hospitals repairs backlog reached £34.7m last year
Total for two sites includes £23.6 million of outstanding upgrades classed as moderate risk
THE cost of the repairs backlog at the Royal Stoke and County Hospital reached £34.7 million last year, new figures show.
University Hospitals of North Midlands, which runs both sites, saw its general acute hospitals repairs backlog increase by 2.8 per cent in 2022/23.
Analysis of NHS data carried out by the BBC showed the bill to repair infrastructure at all acute hospitals in England topped £9.5 billion, including £2 billion for “high risk” repairs.
The backlog figure does not include the cost of repairs being carried out by a trust, but rather the cost of repairs that should have already been undertaken.
Many trusts had far bigger repair bills than UHNM, with Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, in London, having the highest total backlog, at £734.7 million.
Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Leighton Hospital, Crewe, had the fifth-highest overall backlog, at £337 million.
While the repairs backlog for the Royal Stoke site has changed relatively little since 2018/19, falling from £11.7 million to £11.5 million, the County Hospital’s backlog has gone up by more than 60 per cent over this period, from £14.2 million to £23.1 million.
The total backlog across the two sites includes £23.6 million of repairs classed as moderate risk and £10.4 million in the significant risk category. The backlog for high risk repairs stands at just £5,465 - all at the Royal Stoke - up from £5,171 in the previous year.
Lorraine Whitehead, director of estates, facilities and PFI at UHNM, said: “We are committed to providing first-class care in safe, efficient and reliable buildings. We will prioritise the highest-risk maintenance issues to ensure our hospitals are safe and operational.”
UHNM says the backlog value is reviewed annually, taking into account factors such as inflation and the completion of work previously included in the backlog.
Some hospitals with the largest backlogs, such as those run by Imperial, have buildings dating back to Victorian times.
In stark contrast, much of the Royal Stoke was built under a huge PFI scheme between 2007 and 2012, although some buildings on the site are considerably older. The County Hospital dates back to the early 1980s.
Responding to the national figures, The King’s Fund, a health think tank, said: “The terrible state of some NHS buildings and equipment should be a wake-up call for the government.”