Shock poll reveals one in five think their local hospital buildings are unsafe as people fear rat infestations and collapsing roofs

EMBARGO: 00.01 Monday 17th February

• One in five (19%) people say that their local hospital building infrastructure is not a safe place to receive care whilst almost a third (30%) do not know if they are safe
• Of those who thought that their local hospital building was unsafe, a quarter (27%) thought it was because the roof may collapse and another quarter (26%) because rodents and insects may infest the building
• The Liberal Democrats have called for a ‘crumbling hospitals taskforce’ to protect patients from the decaying NHS estate

A shocking new poll, commissioned by the Liberal Democrats, has found that one in five (19%) people think that the quality of their local hospital building infrastructure makes it an unsafe place to be treated, with many fearing rat infestations, collapsing roofs or sewage leaks.

The poll revealed that a similarly staggering number of people were unsure if their hospital building was safe, with just under a third (30%) saying they did not know. It meant that close to half (49%) of people either thought their hospital building was unsafe or did not know if it was safe or not.

Of those who felt their local hospital building was not safe to be treated in, 34% of people said it was because they feared the power going off and 32% that the heating would fail.

Staggeringly, 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%). A further 20% of people said that it was because they thought there might be a sewage leak or flooding.

Previous Liberal Democrat research has found the high-risk backlog, repairs labelled as high risk are ones where failure to urgently address repairs could lead to serious injury and major disruption to services, at some individual hospitals now reach more than a staggering £300 million with over 90% of total repairs being labelled as high risk in some cases.

These infrastructure issues have serious knock-on effects for patients. Separate Lib Dem research found that at sites forming the New Hospital Programme where construction dates have been pushed back, there were 506 infrastructure incidents causing 32 days of clinical time to be lost.

Some of the delayed hospitals are already experiencing shocking and dangerous issues putting patient safety at risk. 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. 

The Liberal Democrats have called for a ‘crumbling hospitals taskforce’ inside the Health Department to protect patients from the deteriorating NHS estate and drive forward the New Hospital Programme.

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

"It’s shocking that so many patients no longer trust the buildings they rely on to get better, fearing the very walls they’re treated in might crumble. Patients should only worry about their health—not whether the roof will cave in on them. 

“The previous Conservative government’s neglect of the NHS brought us to this disgraceful point. Yet, the Labour government has failed to act fast enough to protect patients from these decaying buildings.

“Ministers must tackle this crisis head-on by creating a dedicated taskforce to drive urgent repairs and safeguard patients.

“We should be rebuilding the NHS to be the envy of the world it once was, but until these decaying hospitals are fixed, patients will keep paying the price.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

The full polling from Savanta can be found here.

Methodology: Savanta interviewed 2,044 UK adults aged 18+ online between 31^st January and 2^nd February 2025. Data were weighted to be representative of the UK by age, sex, region, and social grade. 

Q1. Which of the following best describes your view? Base: All respondents (2,044)

Q2. Which of the following, if any, do you fear might happen while being treated in your local hospital? Base: All respondents who say that the infrastructure quality of their local hospital building means it is not a safe place to be treated (405)

Previous Liberal Democrat research on hospital site repair backlogs can be found here.

Previous Liberal Democrat research on infrastructure incidents can be found here.

Information on the NHS England estate repair backlog can be found here.

Inside the battle to keep Torbay Hospital from crumbling.

Patients warned 'emergencies only' after flooding at RBH Reading causes power failure.