Over £12 million of repairs are needed by the Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust to repair or replace buildings and equipment.
The trust is currently sitting on a backlog of £12.3 million worth of repairs or replacements, including around £2million of repair work that is classed as ‘Significant risk’ repairs.
This means that if the repairs are not addressed, they could pose a risk to safety or disrupt care.
The problem has been revealed after figures from NHS Digital showed the extent of the backlog of maintenance across NHS property in England.
A spokesperson from the Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, said: “We provide services from over 100 buildings across Worcestershire and spend more money on our estate than most Trusts within our region.
“We have significantly increased that investment in recent years and we prioritise spend on those issues which have the potential to impact on our services.
“The majority of the significant maintenance costs listed in this report relate to Evesham Community Hospital which is one of our oldest buildings.
“We have bid for national funds for a new build which has been a long-standing priority for us which would clearly address these issues."
According to the data, which covers the 12 months to March 2018, problems with the trust’s infrastructure led to three incidents where patients were either harmed or put at risk of harm.
However, the trust spokesman denied that was the case.
He said: “The three incidents which are referred to in the report have not caused patients harm nor do we believe they had the potential to cause harm.
“One of the issues was a heating problem which meant we had to cancel one of our routine clinics, and another involved a leak which again forced a cancellation of a routine clinic.
“These issues were resolved quickly and new appointments made where appropriate.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel