Hospital buildings across England are in such a poor state that they risk fires, floods, and electrical faults, leaked internal NHS trust documents have shown, as leaders describe conditions as “outright dangerous.”
Papers from NHS trust board meetings reveal how staff and patients are being endangered by a range of hazards stemming from deteriorating infrastructure.
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said that parts of the health estate were so rundown that “some patients are being treated in unsafe and sometimes outright dangerous facilities.”
Taylor attributed these conditions to “decades of underinvestment” in the NHS’s capital budget, which is intended for repairs and replacements of buildings and equipment. He added that the NHS has received “woefully” less funding compared to similar countries.
Among the hospitals with significant safety risks is the three facilities run by Doncaster and Bassetlaw trust.
The board was informed last month that there was an “increased risk to life and property in the event of fire due to current inadequacy of fire compartmentation”, which refers to fire-resistant materials designed to prevent the spread of flames.
Barts Health trust in London also faces severe challenges with its crumbling estate at some of its five hospitals. Board papers noted issues such as “insufficient body freezer spaces to prevent the decomposition of patients in storage” and water leaks posing a “risk of loss of pathology services and staff safety.”
The cost of repairing NHS facilities in England has skyrocketed to £13.8bn, with £2.7bn of the necessary works classified as posing a “high risk” to safety, according to the latest NHS figures. This amount exceeds the annual capital funding received by the service.
Taylor emphasised that an additional £6.4bn per year is needed from 2025 to 2028 to maintain the NHS estate and improve productivity by the expected two per cent.
Health minister Andrew Gwynne said that patients should not be treated in dangerous hospitals and blamed the current problems on the previous government.
He told The Guardian, which obtained the documents: “Years of neglect and underinvestment left NHS buildings crumbling, staff forced to use outdated creaking equipment, and patients paying the price. It is unacceptable for patients to be treated in these conditions.”
He acknowledged that rebuilding the NHS would take time but added that the government’s plan for change would provide the necessary investment and reform to make the service fit for the future.
