More than 100 chemical leaks took place in England’s public hospitals last year, an investigation has revealed.
Leaks of liquids like bleach took place in wards, pharmacies and emergency departments, among other facilities, according to records obtained by a British political party.
At least two leaks over the last two years have been so serious they led to evacuations, according to a press statement.
The Liberal Democrats — U.K.’s third-largest political party — used freedom of information laws to request the data, as well as details on fires and broken fire alarms from each hospital.
The results revealed hundreds of faulty fire alarms were in place across the country, many at sites that had also experienced fires. But it’s not clear if the fires took place in areas without properly functioning alarms.
Chemical leaks and fires, which can lead to ward closures and other forms of service disruption, are just some of the problems facing the country’s public hospital buildings.
Many National Health Service buildings are old — in some cases, more than a century — and problems like flooding and overheating are not uncommon at these ageing facilities. Others, including a number built in the middle of the last century, face serious structural problems because they contain concrete that’s reached the end of its lifespan.
Previous Liberal Democrat research has focused on issues like sewage leaks.
Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of hospital industry group NHS Providers, said warned the cost of maintaining hospital buildings is risen markedly.
Last year, England’s hospital maintenance backlog reached a staggering £10.2 billion ($13bn).
According to think tank The Nuffield Trust, this is an increase of 130% since 2004, working out at roughly a billion pounds more than the country’s entire capital spending plan for the 2021/22 financial year.
Not all buildings maintenance is urgent. But a significant proportion is classed as “high risk”, meaning a failure to perform it could result in “catastrophic failure, major disruption to clinical services or deficiencies in safety liable to cause serious injury or prosecution,” the think tank reported late last year.
In 2021/22, the cost for high risk maintenance hit £1.8 billion ($2.3 billion) — an increase of 256% on 2004.
“Too many NHS buildings and facilities are in a very bad way and getting worse,” Cordery said. “[Hospital] trust leaders have warned long and loud about the eye-watering cost of trying to patch up creaking infrastructure and out-of-date facilities. The multi-billion pound repairs bill is growing at an alarming rate.”
Many hospital leaders were increasingly concerned over the future of their buildings, she said, particularly after delays were announced to a major hospital renovation scheme.
“Many trusts in the government’s New Hospital Programme were deeply disappointed to learn that their building plans won’t be delivered before 2030,” she said in a statement. “It was even more frustrating for those that missed the ‘cut’ and weren’t given any funding at all despite expectations.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Health and Social Care told Forbes.com that the government was “investing record sums to modernise NHS buildings.”
“This includes £4.2 billion last year and a further £8.4 billion over the next two years to allow trusts to invest, refurbish and maintain their buildings,” the spokesperson added.
“We are also building 40 new hospitals by 2030 through the New Hospital Programme, which is now expected to be backed by over £20 billion.”
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