Boris Johnson promised in 2019 to “build and finance 40 new hospitals”. However, the Infrastructure and Works Authority (IPA), the government overseer, later gave the project an “orange / red” rating, meaning that its delivery “is questionable with significant risks or issues evident in a number of key areas”. At the same time, the NHS in England is facing an outstanding maintenance cost of 9 9 billion. Half of this amount, which has increased from ,5 6.5 billion £ just three years ago, is needed to deal with failures that are described as ‘high’ or ‘significant’ risk to patients and staff. Now health leaders are warning that without an emergency capital injection, patient safety is at stake and the waiting list for treatment – which has been exacerbated by the pandemic – will “grow even bigger”. There are already 6.4 million people on the waiting list in England alone. Speaking to the Guardian ahead of this week’s NHS ConfedExpo in Liverpool, Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents the entire healthcare system in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, said that serious. Patient safety, as well as the NHS ‘ability to deal with record waiting lists, is being “severely hampered”, Taylor warned, as the UK has been plagued by one of the worst health care investment records in all OECD countries. last decade. “NHS leaders share the government’s commitment to further enhancing the NHS efficiency and productivity and are doing everything they can to address the care deficit that has accumulated in recent years, but are delaying their efforts due to a lack of funding. “now a major obstacle,” he said. “The huge gap in the NHS capital budget combined with a ten-year underinvestment in real estate, infrastructure and IT systems has left the NHS with dilapidated buildings, long maintenance delays and limited opportunities to maximize the use of digital technology.” In a new poll of 182 health leaders by the NHS Confederation, nine out of 10 warn that insufficient funding is undermining their “ability to meet patient safety requirements” in hospitals, ambulances, community services and mental health, medical other health facilities. . They urge the government to speed up access to capital funding already pledged by ministers, as well as to invest further in the autumn budget. If they do not, NHS leaders warn, the backlog of selective care will get worse before it improves. An NHS president in London said in a survey this month that “cramped space” means that trust does not “build our ability to deal with waiting lists” and that conditions for patients in certain wards “do not” were suitable for the purpose. “. A director of primary care in the Southeast added: “We work in a tin roof health center in the 1950s that serves 34,000 patients without the capacity to provide adequate 21st century health care. Our ability to meet patient expectations and policy promises is impossible unless significant infrastructure investments are made. “It’s like promising the public a safe, efficient, modern car, and when they go to pick it up, they find a 1970s Ford Escort with a rusty roof, an engine whistle designed for four people, but it has to carry 10, and without nobody to serve it or lead it “. Taylor added: “The government urgently needs to unlock the capital funding it has already promised, so that work can finally begin in the country on new construction and to address maintenance recovery. Subscribe to the First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7 p.m. BST “We should be ahead of the pack in terms of the amount we invest in capital compared to other OECD countries instead of lagging behind as we are today. “If you do not do this, it will mean that patients’ treatment goals will be lost, pending waiting lists will increase even more, and patient safety could be jeopardized.” The NHS Confederation warning came as a report suggests that more than 1,000 patients spend more than 12 hours in A&E departments each day. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) has published data showing that in 2021, 1,047 patients a day, on average, waited 12 hours or more for their arrival time. The college expressed concern about the “worrying” levels of patients in the emergency departments, as it described the current data for the 12-hour wait as the “tip of the iceberg”. A spokesman for the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare said: “We recognize the largest hospital construction program in a generation, with a target of 48 hospitals by 2030. We are also investing 7 1.7 billion by 2025 in more than 70 hospital upgrades across the UK and in 2020/21 we invested a record 95 895 million to address critical infrastructure risk, which included funding for nearly 1,800 emergency maintenance projects in more than 170 trusts.
