NHS starved of capital investment and we are seeing the impact now

Responding to a story in the Guardian revealing that 34 hospital buildings in England have unstable roofs, Rory Deighton, senior acute lead at the NHS Confederation, said:

“NHS leaders have been warning about the dire state of many of our buildings for some time. Put simply, the government has starved the NHS of capital investment for more than a decade and we are seeing the impact of that now - both in terms of run down buildings and a spiralling maintenance backlog. All of this is putting patients at risk.  

“In June, nine in 10 NHS leaders said their efforts to reduce the size of the NHS waiting list are being hindered by this lack of investment in buildings and infrastructure. 

“It’s critical that the Government provides much quicker access to capital funding and invest in the estate at the Budget or any emergency Budget in the autumn. A failure to do so will continue to undermine the NHS’ ability to work efficiently and provide value for money to taxpayers despite the very best efforts of NHS leaders and staff.”