The latest ERIC data on the cost of providing, maintaining, and servicing the NHS estate across England for 2019/2020 from 224 NHS Trusts indicates that the total cost of running the estate was £9.7 bn -- 2.55 per cent up on 2018/2019.
The cost of eradicating backlog maintenance has risen to just over £9 bn, almost 40 per cent up on 2018/2019’s figure of £6.45 bn. Breaking the data down, the cost to eradicate ‘high risk’ backlog has risen by 37.48 per cent, to £1.5 bn; for ‘significant risk’ backlog by 38 per cent, to £3.2 bn, and for moderate risk backlog by 55.9 per cent, from £2.095 bn in 2018/2019 to £3.26 bn in the latest recorded year.
More encouragingly, estates and facilities-related incident numbers fell by just over 18 per cent, and clinical service incidents caused by estates and facilities infrastructure by nearly 23 per cent on 2018/2019.
Total energy usage from all energy sources across the estate was 11.3 bn kWh, compared with 11.2 bn kWh the previous year, with a notable 51.85 per cent increase in green energy tariff electricity costs, and a 35 per cent rise in such electricity consumed. Coal costs fell by 88 per cent.
NHS Trusts in England saw a 34 per cent rise in electric vehicle charging points, to 1333, cleaning costs were approximately £1 bn, and the cost of providing inpatient food, around £0.6 bn.
