CAMPAIGNERS slammed the government for “not talking seriously” about health service funding today, after it emerged that the bill to fix crumbling NHS buildings has soared while patients and staff are left in harm’s way.  

New figures show that the cost to eradicate NHS repairs in England jumped to £13.8 billion in 2023, up by a fifth compared to the previous year.

Costs amounting to £3bn were attributed to “high-risk” repairs, which could cause injury if left unaddressed. 

NHS Providers deputy chief executive Saffron Cordery said: “Vital bits of the NHS are literally falling apart after years of underinvestment nationally.

“The safety of patients and staff is at risk.

“The list of essential repairs across the NHS waiting to be done keeps getting longer and the costs are rocketing.”

The spiralling maintenance backlog outstrips the cost of running the NHS estate itself, which also increased by 11 per cent to £13.6bn.

King’s Fund chief executive Sarah Woolnough said the backlog has grown due to the “repeated raiding” of capital budgets to shore up day-to-day running costs, coupled with “short-term sticking plaster solutions.”

On Tuesday, Health Secretary Wes Streeting told MPs that Labour is committed to plans to build 40 new hospitals, but that it would be delivered on a “timetable that is credible and a programme that is funded.”

Mr Streeting, who has taken £175,000 from donors linked to private health firms, announced earlier this year that the NHS would get no extra funding from Labour without “major surgery,” including increased reliance on the private sector. 

Last week, the Telegraph reported that private health firms represented by the Independent Healthcare Providers Network suggested to the government that they would “invest” £1bn in the service and build their own facilities if they were to be guaranteed contracts for the long term. 

Mr Streeting is understood to be considering the plans. 

The Health Service Journal reported on Wednesday that private equity firm HCRG Care Group was awarded a £1.3bn contract to lead community services across Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care System. 

Last month, a report into the state of the health service by Lord Darzi revealed Britain had spent £37bn less on the NHS between 2010 and 2024 than comparable countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The report noted instances of mental health patients being accommodated in “Victoria-era cells infested with vermin with 17 men sharing two showers.”

Lord Darzi reported that 20 per cent of the primary care estate predates the founding of the health service in 1948.

Commenting on the soaring maintenance backlog, Keep Our NHS Public co-chairman Dr John Puntis said: “These shocking figures confirm Lord Darzi’s findings that a desperate shortage of capital is preventing hospitals from being productive, with 13 hospitals each day experiencing impaired services from crumbling estates. 

“Darzi also pointed out that ‘it is not a question of whether we can afford the NHS, rather, we cannot afford not to have the NHS.’

“The message to Labour could not be more clear: if you really want to both keep patients safe and reduce waiting lists, invest in the NHS and not the private sector.”

We Own It lead campaigner Johnbosco Nwogbo said: “If you’ve paid attention to the press over the last year you would have seen stories of sewage leaking into NHS operating theatres, rodent infestations at NHS hospitals, out-of-date computer systems, a failed elevator that injured an NHS doctor, and so on.

“Yet, the government is not talking seriously about proper funding. 

“Wes Streeting’s solution is reforming the NHS. The question most patients and staff will want to ask him is, how will reform fix this backlog? 

“Unless reform is magic, you can’t fix broken hospital roofs, bust pipes and outdated computer systems without more cash. 

“The next Budget is their opportunity to show they can be trusted with the NHS. They must invest in the NHS.”