'Fix our crumbling NHS buildings' says county MP with £75 million maintenance backlog at Shropshire hospitals

North Shropshire MP Helen Morgan led a debate in Parliament this week, demanding the Government address a "catalogue of issues" facing hospitals in the region.

The Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Health and Social Care raised a £13.8 billion NHS maintenance backlog in England that includes £75 million worth of outstanding repairs in Shropshire.

She said Royal Shrewsbury Hospital has £35 million worth of outstanding repairs while the Princess Royal Hospital has £18 million.

Moreover, she added that The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital in Gobowen has £14 million of outstanding repairs while Whitchurch Community Hospital has a backlog of £1.5 million.

Mrs Morgan called for an end to delays of the 'New Hospital Programme'. A review of the scheme found that the previous Conservative Government’s commitment to deliver 40 new hospitals by 2030 was behind schedule.

The North Shropshire MP also used her speech to highlight constituent testimonies including a Shropshire patient who was left in the 'fit to sit' area at Shrewsbury A&E for 48 hours - despite having being diagnosed with suspected sepsis, Mrs Morgan said.

She added that a 96-year-old waited 11 hours for an ambulance while an 82-year-old spent 24 hours on a trolley in a hospital corridor.

Speaking in Parliament, she said: "This is the reality of hospitals up and down the country, that is a disgrace and it needs to be rectified."

She added: "Royal Shrewsbury hospital, which serves my constituents and has a £35 million backlog, are clearly a long way short of being up to standard. I will not go into detail again about the catalogue of issues in Shropshire - the ambulance delays and station closures, the waiting times for check-ups, scans and surgeries, or the substandard state of cancer care - but they all combine to put huge pressure on hospitals, where staff and buildings are straining under the load."

Mrs Morgan believes NHS infrastructure has not kept up with demand in Shropshire, and spoke of a "failure" to increase capacity at GP surgeries such as Prescott in Baschurch.

The North Shropshire MP said: "Residents in Shropshire have been let down by both Labour and the Conservatives when it comes to healthcare.

"The backlogs in Shropshire are huge - in terms of hospital waiting times and in terms of hospital maintenance - and it is patients who are suffering as a result.

"There can be no doubt that the Conservatives’ shameful neglect of the NHS brought us to this point. However, the Labour Government has so far dithered and delayed rather than getting on and delivering the change that people so desperately need."

A spokesperson for The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) who run the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and the Princess Royal Hospital said: "As part of our ongoing transformation projects, including the multi-million pound Hospitals Transformation Programme (HTP), there will be significant improvements made to our estates infrastructure on both our hospital sites.

"We are continuously managing our backlog challenges and risk assessing competing priorities to minimise and avoid service impact.

"Our priority is to provide a structurally safe, compliant and effective hospital environment for our patients and staff."

Nick Huband, director of estates and facilities at RJAH, added: "Every year we assess the condition of our buildings and infrastructure to identify priorities for maintenance work. This is done against six key criteria - physical condition, functional suitability, space utilisation, quality, statutory requirements and environmental management. 

"We have funds available to make improvements to our buildings and ensure our services remain safe, compliant and operational to patients, staff and the public."