
The contribution crumbling hospital buildings are making to the NHS crisis was laid bare by recent research from the House of Commons Library.
It found that across the NHS over the past five years, there have been 27,545 clinical service incidents. These are defined as incidents caused by estate and infrastructure issues leading to clinical services being cancelled, delayed or otherwise interfered with for at least 30 minutes which effect a minimum of five patients.
If 27,545 incidents have impacted on a minimum of five patients, at least 137,725 patients have been effected between 2018 and 2023. On average, 106 clinical service incidents have occurred per week over that period.
Fires, leaks and problems from outdated buildings are the most common causes. And they are not going to go away anytime soon. The NHS has a massive maintenance backlog and the bill to clear it has risen to £11.6 billion.
NHS crisis causing “unacceptable impact on patients”
Saffron Cordery is the deputy chief executive of NHS providers, a representative of health service trusts. She told The Guardian : “These findings are shocking but sadly not surprising, given the dilapidated, and in some cases dangerous, state of so many NHS facilities.”
“There are many patients in hospital, mental health and community settings who have received care but whose recovery is hampered by deteriorating environments that are neither safe nor therapeutic.”
Ms Cordery added that the “unacceptable impact on patients” means ministers should increase the NHS’s capital budget, allowing trusts to urgently overhaul their estates.
One of the worst hit hospitals was the Princess Alexandra in Harlow, Essex. It reported 1,049 clinical service incidents. At least 40 of those were leaks of raw sewage.
The BBC reported staff were left feeling nauseous because of the smell and struggling to work. In one instance, a patient slipped over because of a leak.
Director of estates at the Princess Alexandra Hospital Trust, Michael Meredith, said although the leaks “are managed quickly and efficiently, they are unpleasant especially where they occur in areas accessed by patients, our people or the public.”
Leaking pipes in UK hospitals
The numbers in the House of Commons Library report and stories of raw sewage leaking into hospital buildings are telling of the part leaking pipes play in the NHS crisis.
But as Mr Meredith says, rapid repairs are often made. Specialist products like the SylWrap Drain & Waste Pipe Repair Kit provide multiple materials for sealing cracks and splits in cast iron waste, drain and sewer pipes.
Hospitals keeping Drain & Waste Pipe Repair Kits on site have everything to hand to make versatile leak repairs as soon as problems are identified, reducing disruption to patients and staff.
Prevention though is better than a cure. Currently, the approach most NHS trusts seem to take is either wait for ageing pipework systems to be replaced or fix leaking hospital pipes as and when bursts happen.
Pipe repair and refurbishment programmes provide an alternative way of helping the NHS with its crumbling hospital crisis.
The benefits of pipe refurbishment to the NHS
With NHS budgets tight and that £11.6 million hospital maintenance bill only going to rise in future, some trusts have started looking for cost-effective ways to protect themselves from future pipework failure.
One such mechanism is the Sylmasta Pipe Refurbishment System, a four-stage process which extends the lifespan of pipework through protection, reinforcement and strengthening.
The SPRS is effective on almost every type of pipe found in a hospital; from sewer pipes to rainwater stacks to air conditioning.
Pipework which has been weakened by corrosion or age can be rebuilt through increasing outer wall thickness via an epoxy putty or paste.
An epoxy coating next provides a metallic outer shell highly resistant to corrosion and chemical attack. Lastly, a moisture cured composite repair wrap forms a rock-hard protective outer shell.
Degraded pipework on the verge of failure can have 10 years or more added to its operational life by the SPRS.
ASt a time when the NHS crisis means new facilities or the replacement of existing infrastructure remain years away for many hospitals, greater consideration should be given to refurbishment.
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