Investment in fixing crumbling hospitals falls by nearly 40% as Lib Dems to force vote on bringing delayed projects forward

EMBARGO: 22.30 Tuesday 22nd April

• The Liberal Democrats will use their opposition day to force a vote today in Parliament (23rd April) to reverse the Government’s delays to 40 new hospitals scheme
• Less than £900 million of the £13.8 billion required to eradicate repair backlogs at hospitals was invested last year - just 6.5%
• Investment in eradicating the repair backlog has fallen sharply from £1.4 billion in 2020/21 to £895 million in 2023/24 - a fall of 37%

Investment in fixing crumbling hospitals has fallen by £600 million in the past three-years, a fall of 40%, House of Commons Library research commissioned by the Liberal Democrats has revealed.

It comes as the Liberal Democrats are set to use their opposition day in Parliament today to force a vote on the Government’s delays to the 40 new hospitals scheme.

18 of the 40 projects have been delayed by the Government, with some not expected to start construction until 2037 at the earliest. Some of the delayed programmes are in the local election battleground councils of Devon and Hertfordshire.

The analysis found that for critical infrastructure risk issues on the NHS estate, investment to reduce backlog maintenance fell by 28% from £894 million in 2021/22 to £646 million in 2023/24. In total, 106 of the 185 trusts or almost six in ten have seen a fall in critical infrastructure investment. There was also a 52% decline in investment to non-critical infrastructure risk, from £517 million to £248 million. It means the combined investment in reducing the critical and non-critical backlog came to less than £900 million.

Last year, the total maintenance backlog for the NHS estate rose to a record £13.8 billion. It means that just 6.5% of the funding required to clear the backlog was invested last year.

Previous research by the Liberal Democrats found that over 2023/24 the NHS lost over 600 days of clinical time due to infrastructure failures of the NHS estate. The issues included crumbling roofs at risk of collapse, water leaks, broken-down lifts, or ventilation and heating systems not working properly.

The Liberal Democrats will today (23rd April) use their opposition day to hold a vote on reversing the Government’s delays to the New Hospitals Programme and also call on them to create a crumbling hospitals task force to tackle the repairs backlog across the NHS estate.

Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokesperson, Helen Morgan MP said:

“When somebody goes into hospital, the only thing that should be on their mind is getting better, not worrying about if the roof caves in on them or if there will be a power cut as they are receiving treatment. The state of our crumbling hospitals is a national scandal.

“There can be no doubt that the Conservatives shameful neglect of the NHS has brought us to this point. However, the Labour government has so far embraced the false economy of dither and delay rather than getting on and delivering the change that people so desperately need.

“That is why the Liberal Democrats will today force a vote on the Government’s delays to vital new hospitals that communities are crying out for, to get them the local health services they expect and deserve.

“By electing a hardworking Liberal Democrat councillor on May 1st it is exactly these types of issues that they will stand up for and help deliver the change that communities deserve.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

The research by the House of Commons Library can be found here. [Sources: DHSC annual report and accounts, Financial Assistance under Section 40 of the National Health Service Act 2006 report 2020/21 to 2023/24; NHS Digital, Estates Returns Information Collection, ERIC – Site data].

Notes from the Library: over a given time period Trusts could acquire new sites, dispose of sites, or merge with other trusts. In addition, it is possible that trusts do not submit data, leading to a zero return which could be interpreted as £0 spending. Please note that NHS Trust level comparisons may be affected as a result.

Previous research by the Liberal Democrats on critical infrastructure clinical delays can be found here.

A recent poll by the Liberal Democrats found that one in five (19%) people said that their local hospital building infrastructure is not a safe place to receive care. Of those who thought their building was unsafe, over a quarter of this group said it was because they thought that the roof might collapse (27%), and another quarter that there might be a rodent/insect infestation (26%). The previous polling by the Liberal Democrats on crumbling hospitals can be found here.

Torbay Hospital, one of the delayed projects and the third oldest hospital in the country with its foundation stone laid in 1925, has suffered from sewage leaks, water ingress and crumbling concrete. It has been found that 80% of the site is in poor or bad quality.

In January 2024 all toilet facilities had to be closed as sewage was found to be leaking into the wards themselves. Torbay Hospital has also had to place crash decks at the base of one of the buildings to protect from crumbling concrete hitting the floor, costing the hospital over £1 million to mitigate defects from a building that is earmarked for demolition anyway. The hospital is also still using portacabins, installed in 1984, to house its laboratories. Reporting can be found here.

The Health Foundation has previously said the lack of investment “implies that a reduced focus on addressing existing maintenance issues was contributing to a growth in the repair backlog”. The Health Foundations comments on the maintenance backlog can be found here.