The National Audit Office calls for more efficient maintenance programmes as NHS England’s maintenance backlog increases at around £800 million a year.
A new report from The National Audit Office outlines the extent of the government’s maintenance backlog, covering key public services including the NHS.
Building failures are now impacting the delivery of services within the NHS, with the report finding that there was an average of 5,400 clinical service incidents occurring within the health service every year between 2019-20 and 2023-24. Alongside clinical service incidents, the knock-on effects of these failures include poor staff retention and impacts on the ability to hit environmental targets.
The report also identified that the maintenance backlogs have also been steadily increasing over the course of the past decade, with NHS England’s backlog increasing at an average of around £800 million per year.
“This report is further evidence of the enormous impact that starving services of vital capital funding is having. The cost to eradicate backlog maintenance in the NHS alone has risen to a staggering £13.8 billion – more than the £13.6 billion total cost of running the entire NHS estate,” said Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation.
Risk to patient safety
Taylor highlighted that there is a real risk to patient safety if key repairs and developments continue to be delayed due to lack of funding.
“Not only do crumbling and dilapidated buildings make it more difficult to keep patients safe, but they hamper productivity and impede efforts to improve performance,” he said.
The National Audit Office makes four recommendations in the report.
First, there should be a standardised definition of the maintenance backlog so the true figure can be calculated. Second, that data on the backlog should be included in the State of the Estate report from next year.
It also calls for departments to produce long-term property plans, setting out capital needs and a plan for how to reduce the backlog. And finally – and urgently – that thought be given how the backlog can be tackled ahead of the next, and subsequent, spending review periods.
“Allowing large maintenance backlogs to build up at the buildings used to deliver essential public services is a false economy,” said Gareth Davies, head of the National Audit Office.
“The government needs better data on the condition of its operational assets and should use it to plan efficient maintenance programmes to deliver better services and value for money,” he continued.
