Hospital bosses not doing jobs, says councillor

Dominic McDonough sits on Sunderland City Council

A Conservative councillor has blamed NHS trusts for failing to keep hospitals in a good state of repair.

A BBC investigation has uncovered disruption to patient care caused by outdated NHS buildings and equipment.

Power cuts during surgery, crumbling buildings and flooding are among potentially harmful incidents linked to hospitals in the North East and Cumbria.

Sunderland's Dominic McDonough said responsibility for looking after buildings lay with NHS trusts, adding: "Unfortunately, they just haven't been doing their jobs."

'Making excuses'

The cost to meet the repair backlog at hospitals in the region was at least £367m in 2022-23, according to BBC analysis of NHS data.

When an NHS hospital's ability to deliver care is affected by failures in the hospital environment, a clinical service incident (CSI) is recorded.

According to Freedom of Information requests submitted by the BBC's Shared Data Unit, dozens of CSIs were highlighted in hospitals run by NHS trusts in the North East and north Cumbria in 2022-23.

Among 40 CSIs disclosed by the Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust was an incident that saw porters unable to transport a dead patient to the mortuary because the mortuary doors were broken.

A spokesman for the trust said it continued to invest in improving and upgrading the hospital estate "to ensure we deliver quality and safe patient care".

The comments were made on Politics North on Sunday

The matter was discussed on Politics North, where Alison Hume, Labour election candidate for Scarborough and Whitby, linked widespread hospital disrepair to Tory austerity measures.

"This is year on year of under-investment in hospitals," she said.

Responding, Mr McDonough said: "It's not for the government to go into each hospital and make sure a door is fixed.

"We have NHS executives that simply aren't doing their job and, quite frankly, they're making excuses.

"I think the NHS has never been better funded."

Earlier this week, Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive of NHS Providers, said staff and patient safety was at stake due to repair backlogs in hospitals.

Calling for major capital investment from the government, he said: "Far too many NHS buildings and equipment are in a very bad way."

A Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman said the government had invested "significant sums to upgrade and modernise NHS buildings" including £4.2bn this financial year.

She added: "Trusts are responsible for prioritising this funding to maintain and refurbish their premises, including the renewal and replacement of equipment."