Wycombe Hospital tower scaffolding to come down within weeks

Wycombe Hospital has been covered in scaffolding and netting since 2022

Scaffolding and netting around a 1960s hospital that needs £80m of repairs and maintenance will be removed next month.

The eight-storey Wycombe Hospital tower has been covered since October 2022.

Patients have praised staff but one said his ward was "falling apart" and the sound of drilling was terrible for people trying to rest.

Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust said the tower would not be fit for clinical use within the next five years and services were being moved out.

Len Arthur said he had heard loud banging noises when he was being treated

Len Arthur, 69, from Princes Risborough, heard loud building work going on in the tower when he was in hospital for a heart procedure this week.

He said: "It looks terrible on the cardiac ward. The room that I was in, the hinges were falling off the windows.

"It's falling apart. Nothing ever seems to be working. The noise all day, drilling, it must be terrible for some people trying to rest."

Sally Evans said she did not mind the tower being covered in scaffolding "as long as we've got a hospital in Wycombe".

She added: "They are absolutely wonderful here. I've had treatment in the bit with the scaffolding inside. It's not the end of the world."

The trust said it had asked the government for up to £200m to fund a purpose-built planned care centre for Wycombe

A spokesperson for the trust said: "The Wycombe Hospital tower was a building designed and built in the 1960s with small, narrow wards, poor ventilation and theatres on different floors.

"Within the next five years the tower will not be fit for clinical use. With our board's approval we have therefore begun to move services out of it."

The trust has asked the government for up to £200m to fund a new, purpose-built care centre for Wycombe, rather than continuing to spend taxpayers' money maintaining current buildings.

A Department of Health spokesperson said: "We have invested significant sums to upgrade and modernise NHS buildings - including £4.2bn this financial year - so staff have the facilities needed to provide world-class care for patients.

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