The cost of providing and maintaining the NHS estate has gone up across all key categories in the 2021/22 Estates Returns Information Collection (ERIC) data released this week*.
In addition, the total cost to eradicate backlog maintenance has increased by 11% since 2020/21 to a new record high of £10.2 billion. High and significant risk backlog categories have seen the highest rises, at 14.43% and 15.68% respectively, and 52% of the total backlog is now identified as high or significant risk.
The ERIC data reveals:
• 8.8% increase in the total costs of running the NHS estate, to £11.1 billion
• 2.6% increase in total energy usage to 11.7 billion kWh
• 7.5% increase in the total cost for cleaning services, to £1.2 billion
• 6.9% increase in the total cost of providing inpatient food, to £0.7 billion.
During this same period, UK inflation has also been increasing - in April 2021, the CPI (Consumer price inflation) 12-month inflation rate stood at 1.5%, but by April 2022 had risen to 9% according to the Office for National Statistics.
Backlog maintenance
Saffron Cordery, Interim Chief Executive of NHS Providers describes the rate of growth of backlog maintenance as “alarming,” adding that: “The costs of trying to patch up creaking infrastructure and out-of-date facilities are piling up.”
The link between the quality of the estate and patient safety is beginning to be more widely understood and supported by data. The 2021/22 data include new categories to record Estates and Facilities incidents related to Critical Infrastructure Risk (1,816 recorded) and Estates and Facilities incidents related to Non-Critical Infrastructure Risk (5,582 recorded). Although clinical service incidents caused by E&F infrastructure failure have fallen by 21.49% in the 2021/22 data, they are still significant, at 5,348.
“It’s not just about old boilers and bricks and mortar,” says Saffron Cordery. “Safety of patients and staff is at the heart of everything the NHS does. That’s why we need a step change in capital investment by the government as well as urgent clarity and commitment about its delayed New Hospitals Programme. Nearly two in three Trust leaders who responded to our recent survey said delays to the programme affected their ability to deliver safe and effective patient care.
“The NHS needs buildings and equipment that are safe, efficient and reliable for patients and staff. Without proper funding, leaky roofs and ceilings, obsolete equipment and ageing IT won’t get fixed or replaced, compromising quality of care.”
Next week, the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) is scheduled to publish its delayed report, ‘Meeting the Short, Medium and Long-Term Needs for NHS Infrastructure’. This report is intended to inform and sit alongside the ten-year Capital Strategy being produced by the Department for Health and Social Care. It will include key recommendations on NHS estates and facilities, equipment and digital care.
*Costs, whether capital or revenue, relating to COVID-19 were not included in these figures where they were allocated to a specific Trust-wide Covid budget, however, they were included if allocated to pay and non-pay budgets in areas such as cleaning, waste and energy if they could not be identified and removed.
