Hospital with 600 estate ‘incidents’ demands ‘urgent’ government decision

A trust has called for ministers to make an ‘urgent’ decision on funding for a new hospital, as a raft of maintenance problems such as leaking roofs and overflowing sewage pipes are hampering efforts to tackle waiting list backlogs.

There was a surge in estates’ incidents reported by Princess Alexandra Hospital Trust last year — to an average of nearly 12 each week — and the Essex trust is calling for clarity on whether it will be given the green light to build a new hospital.

The trust is one of eight given priority status under the government’s new hospitals programme, but there has been speculation in recent weeks the programme could be scaled back as departments are told to find spending cuts.

Michael Meredith, estates director at Princess Alexandra Hospital, said patients still received good care, but admitted the problems – which include sewage overflow, outdated electrics and theatre roofs leaking – were “absolutely” affecting the hospital’s ability to recover elective care.

He told HSJ: “It means you have to cancel some of your elective work. And at the moment that is critical, because we know [we’ve] got a long waiting list, we know we need to recover, we know we’ve got people waiting longer than they need to…

“That has a real impact on our staff morale, and a real impact on patients waiting to be seen.”

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Source: HSJ, 1 November 2022