NHS estate maintenance bill rising is deeply worrying, health leaders warn.
Responding to the publication of the latest NHS Estates Returns Information Collection data showing the estimated cost to eradicate the NHS's backlog maintenance has risen to £15.9 bn, Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said:
“The continued rise in the NHS maintenance backlog bill is deeply worrying but unfortunately not surprising given the health service has been starved of capital investment for more than a decade. This has left the NHS with crumbling buildings and aging infrastructure and estate in desperate need of extensive repairs that can be unsafe for patients and staff.
“Health service leaders welcomed the extra capital investment the government has already committed as well as its prioritisation of trusts that need to tackle issues around reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).
“But the scale of the rising maintenance backlog – up 15.7 per cent on 2023/24 with the cost to eradicate the high risk backlog rising 28% to £3.5 bn – shows just how much of an impact private investment could make across the service including in primary and community care. So, we are urging the government to reconsider allowing provider trusts the freedom to explore private capital investment opportunities to build new facilities, which would free up public funding to tackle the maintenance backlog.”
