£72 million needed to fix crumbling hospitals in Shropshire

More than £70 million is needed to fix the backlog of repairs at hospitals in Shropshire, new analysis by the Liberal Democrats has found.

NHS data shows outstanding repairs worth £56.3 million at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust, £12.7 million at the Orthopaedic Hospital in Gobowen and £3.1 million at Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust.

It means the total bill across the county’s hospital sites is £72.1 million.

The Shropshire hospital in need of the most spending on repairs is Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, with a backlog worth nearly £37 million, followed by Princess Royal Hospital in Telford where £19.4 million is needed to fix the hospital’s buildings.

It follows the national hospital repair bill reaching a record high of £11.6 billion last year, rising by over £1 billion. Despite this, the NHS budget was slashed by £5 billion in real terms following the Autumn Statement.

At the same time, surgery and treatment waiting lists are near record highs at 7.7 million and Shropshire continues to suffer with some of the worst delays for emergency care and cancer treatment.

North Shropshire MP Helen Morgan has been a staunch campaigner on health issues since she was elected as the area’s representative, and says that this is yet another example of the need for central investment in the county’s NHS.

Helen Morgan, Liberal Democrat MP for North Shropshire, said, “This backlog of repairs is putting patients and staff in Shropshire at risk. It is disgraceful that it has come to this.

“People deserve to know that they can get the treatment and care they need in a safe environment. They shouldn’t have to worry that the very buildings are crumbling around them.

“We need serious investment to get our local health services up to an acceptable standard, but it seems the Government are simply unwilling to make the changes we need.”