Patient safety at risk due to maintenance backlog

The Labour Party has said that patient and staff safety at an increasing number of NHS hospitals are at risk because of costly, outstanding maintenance work.

A Freedom of Information request, which gained responses from 143 out of 229 health trusts in England, found that 71 per cent of trusts that responded experienced leaking or broken roofs, 60 per cent had experienced broken or leaking sewer pipes, while 95 per cent brought in pest control services to deal with rodents, wasps, ants and cockroaches. According to the party, one trust called in pest control more than 700 times in two years.

Labour also revealed that trusts with the highest numbers of incidents included Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, who experienced 777 pest control incidents and Airedale NHS Foundation Trust which reported 314 incidents with leaking roofs.

Furthermore, Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust has reported over £4 million in maintenance backlog, with Western Sussex Hospitals Trust also reporting over £3.3 million in fire and roof maintenance work.

Justin Madders MP, Labour's shadow health minister, said: “These latest figures reveal how serious the funding crisis has become, with millions of pounds worth of work needed across the NHS. The government urgently needs to take action to tackle these dangerous conditions. There is now an urgent need for greater NHS funding - ministers must take action to make our NHS safe."