More than £120m spent by Scottish health boards in a year on maintenance

A health campaigner has voiced his concerns at the amount being spent by Scotland's health boards on maintenance costs.

Figures show between 14 Scottish health boards, more than £120m was spent on maintenance in 2022-23.

For 2019-2020, just under £100m was spent on maintenance.

Ron Gunn, from campaign group Caithness Health Action Team, says the figures are a "worry" for health boards and patients.

This comes amid a pause on all new NHS building projects across the country.

"Long term plan" required - MSP

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde spent more than any other health board in Scotland on maintenance costs in 2022-23, with a total of just over £30m.

According to an FOI response detailing the total for transactions which are coded within NHS Tayside’s systems as 'Property Maintenance', the health board spent £21,555,629 during 2022-23, an increase of more than £10m compared with the 2019-2020 total.

However, in their response NHS Tayside outlined their figures include transactions such as security controls, waste collection, insurance costs and pest control which they say are not deemed to be maintenance costs.

They also said all repairs, service contracts, minor works requests, enhancements, energy efficiency works, which are not always related to property and equipment maintenance were included.

NHS Lothian's maintenance costs for 2022-23 were £14,351,000, while NHS Ayrshire and Arran spent £10,351,156.

NHS Highland saw their total rise from £3,752,748.32 to £7,759,493.74 between 2019 and 2022.

Elsewhere, NHS Dumfries and Galloway's total rose by more than £150,000 between 2019-20 to 2022-23.

Mr Gunn is speaking out about his fears as plans including refurbishing Caithness General and creating two new community hubs in the region are just two of the many plans in Scotland currently on hold.

He said: "It's a really huge amount for maintenance.

"I understand that you need maintenance, but it's a big amount.

"It's not as if you're wasting money, but you are thinking we could be spending this on new stuff.

"I think it will be a worry for all health boards and patients."

Labour MSP Michael Marra says the current status quo in terms of maintenance spending can't continue.

He said: "We need to make sure we have a long term plan to get our NHS back on a sustainable footing.

"That includes making sure we can put the money in place to make the investments that are required modernise our care."

The Scottish Government says spend on maintenance is essential to ensure that their "very large and complex NHS estate supports service delivery."

A spokesperson said: "Due to significant increases in construction costs due to inflation, and a lower than expected capital grant from the UK Government, a capital review is currently underway. We plan to publish a revised Scottish Government infrastructure investment pipeline alongside the 2025-26 budget.

“Maintenance costs in any one year will vary based on requirements in that year and will also be impacted by inflation. This spend on maintenance is essential to ensure that our very large and complex NHS estate supports service delivery. We are continuing to work with health boards to manage estate-related costs.”

NHS health board responses

A spokesperson for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: "NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is the largest health board in the country and currently looks after a core population of more than 1.3 million patients, as well as providing highly specialised national and regional services for people throughout the country.

"Our estate, which covers 1.2 million square metres, includes 23 hospitals, 72 health centres and clinics and a range of other buildings and properties.

"To keep our buildings, some of which are ageing, in a condition that our patients and staff would expect and to allow us to continue providing a high standard of care, they require ongoing maintenance, and these costs reflect that.

"They also reflect steep rises in inflation in recent years."

NHS Ayrshire and Arran's Director of Infrastructure and Support Services, Nicola Graham, said: "NHS Ayrshire & Arran is committed to maintaining all our properties in order to provide a safe and secure environment for patients, visitors and staff. This is achieved through an on-going programme of planned maintenance and capital investment to ensure that all our buildings and plant are kept up to standard.

"We continue to invest in backlog maintenance to ensure our estate operates effectively, efficiently and safely. Our well-established prioritised five year backlog maintenance plan is developed to allocate and focus investment to relevant risk assessed schemes with particular emphasis on high risk items.

"Over the past year we have carried out a comprehensive review of our entire estate, in respect of backlog risk and associated costs. This is reported to Scottish Government each year. This review ensures that we optimise current running costs, including the cost of backlog maintenance across our entire estate, and also helps us to plan and prioritise the development of high quality, flexible and sustainable healthcare premises for the future.

"This robust review process will continue to play a key role in the on-going development and future investment within our estate."

A spokseperson for NHS Dumfries and Galloway said: "NHS Dumfries and Galloway owns assets worth hundreds of millions of pounds, including several large hospital buildings and a great deal of complex medical equipment.

"Maintaining these properly is vital to ensure we can continue to provide quality care in a safe and comfortable environment to everyone in the region."