More than £53 million needed for repair work at Harrogate hospital
That's according to the latest figures from the NHS
Data from NHS digital show the latest repair bill for Harrogate hospital would be £53.1 million.
That's up from just over £10 million in the 12 months before that.
As well as problems with the roof the report also flags issues with ventilation and heating systems.
Sarah Dodsworth is the North Yorkshire rep for the Royal college of Nursing: "It's astronomical amounts of money, short term planning usually costs more if you buy cheap, you pay twice and that's very much what we are doing and it's the patients and of course the tax payers who will pay for this, for these poor decisions that were made 30 years ago."
"What is indicative of is years of underfunding and a lack of foresight by the Government to think ahead about what the public need in terms of their healthcare."
"The Royal College of Nursing is calling upon the government to properly invest in the infrastructure of the NHS, and certainly to properly invest in nursing, so that we have a workforce for the future. At the moment, there is a risk that they will just simply not be enough of us, enough nurses to look after the population. Already, that is the case with over 42,000 nursing and healthcare assistant vacancies and that is just in the NHS. The Government need to take note and pay what it needs to keep our services safe for the future of the public and the population."
What do the Government say?
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said:
“We have invested significant sums to upgrade and modernise NHS buildings – including £4.2 billion this financial year – so staff have the facilities needed to provide world-class care for patients.
“Trusts are responsible for prioritising this funding to maintain and refurbish their premises, including the renewal and replacement of equipment.
“This is on top of the expected investment of over £20 billion for the New Hospital Programme, a further £1.7 billion for over 70 hospital upgrades across England, and a range of nationally funded infrastructure improvements in mental health, urgent and emergency care and diagnostic capacity.”
We've approach Harrogate District Hospital for comment.