'Far too many NHS buildings and equipment are in a very bad way'

HEALTH CHIEF SAYS SAFETY OF PATIENTS AND STAFF 'AT STAKE' AMID HUGE BILLS TO FIX HOSPITALS

- HELENA VESTY & DAVID DUBAS-FISHER

ENGLAND'S crumbling hospitals face a repair bill of almost £10 billion as infrastructure failures have led to sewage leaks and ceiling collapses in clinical areas, a new investigation into NHS data has revealed.

At least 1,055 patients had their care impacted by infrastructure problems at NHS hospitals in England during the 2022/23 financial year.

The repairs to Greater Manchester hospitals total almost half-a-billion at least, as data available for some NHS hospital trusts in the region show a collective bill of just over £479m.

The figures have come from an investigation by the BBC Shared Data Unit into the state of the country's hospitals, uncovering the full scale of a backlog of repairs.

Figures have been published for five of Greater Manchester's nine hospital trusts within the investigation. The repairs backlog at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) rose to over £254 million last year, meaning it faces one of the biggest repair bills in the country.

Examples of some of the incidents caused by infrastructure failures which the investigation uncovered across England include: Patients awaiting kidney dialysis being sent home because of ventilation issues; sewage leaking into clinical areas for ophthalmology (eye care); parts of ceiling collapsing in clinical areas; air conditioning failing in operating theatres; green algae growth in a hydrotherapy pool; power lost in an operating theatre.

The BBC investigation also found that the amount of money it would cost to repair creaking hospital facilities has surged over the past year. Repairs in the backlog classed as 'high-risk' - those which must be urgently addressed to prevent catastrophic failure or major disruption to clinical services - are estimated at £2bn. That's a third higher than a year earlier.

Manchester