Cost of crumbling hospitals at record high of £12bn

EMBARGO: Immediate Release

The cost of fixing crumbling hospitals and other NHS buildings has soared to a new record high of almost £12 billion, new figures have revealed.

The total cost to eradicate the NHS backlog of repairs increased by £1 billion to £11.6 billion in 2022/23.

It comes as separate figures show the number of patients waiting over 12 hours to be admitted to A&E has risen by 13% in November compared to the same time last year. 

Responding, Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokesperson, Daisy Cooper MP said:

“Once again, it’s patients waiting in pain who are paying the price for Conservative chaos. As they fight like rats in a sack, people across the country are forced to languish for hours in pain and deal with hospital buildings crumbling around them. 

“These latest figures should act as a stark warning to us all that the NHS could be heading for yet another winter crisis. No one should be forced to put up with these intolerably long waits but under this Conservative government, they have become the norm. 

“This past week has displayed just how utterly unfit the Conservative party is to be in government. Far from putting every effort into getting people treatment in emergencies, Rishi Sunak has presided over a broken party, more interested in fighting each other than fighting for patients.  

“They cannot govern themselves, let alone the country. Until this Conservative government is out of office, more patients will be abandoned and our NHS will continue to suffer under the weight of their mismanagement.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

42,900 were delayed over twelve hours (from decision to admit to admission), which compares to 37,900 in November 2022. The data can be found here.

The NHS backlog data can be found here. This is also known as 'backlog maintenance' and is a measure of how much would need to  be invested to restore a building to a certain state based on a state of assessed risk criteria. It does not include planned maintenance work (rather, it is work that should already have taken place).