Dangerous concrete will be safe by autumn – hospital

A 'small amount' of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete was found in plant rooms on the top of the Royal Surrey county Hospital in Guildford

The Royal Surrey County Hospital is expected to be made safe by this autumn after it was affected by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac), the hospital has confirmed.

Small amounts of the dangerous Raac, which can crumble and collapse without warning, was found in rooftop plant rooms at the site in Guildford, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

These areas cannot be accessed by patients, visitors or staff, with measures put in place to protect engineers maintaining equipment, the Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust said.

The hospital was one of several medical centres that the Department of Health said was now either safe or would be by the end of the financial year.

Raac is a lightweight building material with a limited lifespan that was widely used in public buildings between the 1960s and 1980s.

Hospitals where Raac has been identified have since had robust mitigations put in place to make them stable and safe until its removal, according to the Department of Health and Social Care.

Simon Corben, director of estates at NHS England, said: "Keeping patients and staff safe is always our top priority, and we have been working closely with trusts to manage Raac safely and ensure the continuation of services while this essential work is taking place.

"The completion of these latest projects is a positive step, giving staff confidence that they can continue delivering care in safe environments – and we will keep working with trusts to complete the programme across the NHS estate at pace."

It comes after it was revealed that about two thirds of Frimley Park Hospital was built using Raac.

The government had previously announced a complete rebuild of the hospital was scheduled to begin in 2030 at a cost of between £1.5bn and £2bn.