King's Lynn Hospital bosses face £19m repairs backlog

Millions of pounds of urgent repairs are needed at Lynn’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital to prevent “catastrophic” failures and risk to safety, according to NHS figures.

Data released by NHS Digital has revealed the extent of the maintenance backlog across NHS property and facilities in England, with the British Medical Association warning it is having an impact on patient care.

The figures suggest the QEH is currently sitting on a backlog of £19 million worth of repairs or replacements which should have been carried out on its buildings and equipment.

More than £700,000 was spent by the trust during the last financial year on measures to help clear the backlog.

The hospital said the figure relates to the requirement for work to replace the building’s roof, for which an application to borrow £22 million was announced earlier this year.

However, around half of the total, £9.1 million, is classed as ‘high risk’ repairs, meaning they could cause “catastrophic failure, major disruption to clinical services or deficiencies in safety liable to cause serious injury and prosecution” if not addressed immediately.

Examples of maintenance required could include upgrading software on medical equipment, maintaining generators and boilers, and ensuring the structural integrity of buildings.

QEH officials have previously indicated they expect the roof work to take five to six years to complete and extend the life of the building by around another 20 years.

But Roy Jackson, the hospital’s director of finance and resources, said this week: “In the intervening period until such work is completed, we have a regular inspection regime to ensure the structural integrity is maintained.

“If any issues were to arise these would then be addressed without compromising patient safety or the quality of our services.”

The data, which covers the 12 months to March, problems with NHS infrastructure in England led to 17,900 incidents where patients were either harmed or put at risk of harm.

The QEH did not record any incidences of this, but clinical services were delayed, cancelled or otherwise disrupted because of infrastructure problems on two occasions.

Across England, the bill for repairs is now estimated to be a record £6 billion, having risen 50 per cent since 2012.

Health professionals, unions and patients’ groups have all warned that the situation cannot continue and urgent additional funding is needed to tackle what they say is a growing crisis.

John Kell, head of policy for the Patients’ Association, said: “It is an unsustainable situation – both patients and the staff who work in the health service deserve much better.”

But the Department for Health and Social Care said maintenance spending across the NHS in England rose by a quarter in 2017-18, compared to the previous year, and it is planning to invest nearly £4 billion in further improvements.