More money getting spent on hospital 'building maintenance' in South Yorkshire
New figures show Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust spent over £140 million on repairs between 2022-2023
There are concerns that more money is having to be spent on hospital 'building maintenance' in South Yorkshire - rather than 'required repairs'.
Figures show Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust spent over £140 million on maintenance work between 2022-2023 - which's a 50 per cent increase on the year before.
Sarah Dodsworth from the Royal College of Nursing in South Yorkshire argues a lot of hospitals just aren't fit for the modern day:
"Much of the NHS building infrastructure is old, Victorian, and crumbly.
"They're no longer fit for purpose for a contemporary health care system.
"We're talking about astronomical amounts of money.
"If you buy cheap, you pay twice, and that's what's happening here.
"It's the patients and the taxpayers that will pay for these poor decisions that were made thirty years ago."
Chris Norman, Director of Estates at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said:
“We have one of the largest NHS Trust estates in the UK covering five hospital sites plus community sites, therefore our maintenance costs will always appear higher than the majority of other Trusts.
The figures relate to scheduled maintenance plans and not required repairs. So, for example if an area was due to be decorated within 3 years and it was not carried out within that time it would be classed a backlog maintenance.
It would not mean that area was unfit for use. There is a difference in the costs for 2022/23 because we had a full estates survey conducted with up-to-date costing applied compared to 2021. The costs also include buildings which have not been in use for many years or are not actively used and therefore would not be a priority for maintenance planning.
We have an annual plan for all essential maintenance and last year for example we invested over £13m in infrastructure developments and upgrades across the Trust.”
Between 2021-2022, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust spent £94.57 million on maintenance backlog costs, whereas they spent £142.32 million in 2022/23.