‘Lives at risk’ in Britain’s crumbling hospitals

Patients’ lives are at risk because NHS hospitals have been allowed to crumble into disrepair, with ceilings collapsing and power cuts disrupting surgery.

The number of clinical incidents linked to the failure to repair old buildings and faulty equipment has tripled in the past five years, an investigation by The Times found.

Hundreds of vital NHS operations and appointments are being cancelled as a result of outdated infrastructure, undermining attempts by doctors to tackle record waiting lists.

Recent incidents include an unconscious patient on a ventilator being trapped in a broken lift for 35 minutes and power running out as a patient lay in an operating theatre.

On Saturday, April 23, a five-hour power cut at the Royal London Hospital in east London led to the cancellation of operations including two lifesaving kidney transplants, and meant women giving birth had to be transferred to different maternity units in the backs of taxis.

Hospitals have also recorded hundreds of rat and pest infestations, and some rooms containing patients have been left “overflowing with raw sewage”.

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Source: The Times, 2 May 2022