Crumbling hospital buildings across Lincolnshire require £68m worth of work to repair the damage after years of neglect, says UNISON East Midlands.
NHS Digital, which provides data to the NHS to help improve healthcare, has estimated that more than £1.1m is needed to tackle immediate, high-risk problems and avert major disruption to hospital services across the county.
£30m is needed to tackle serious building problems. This is where repairs or replacement require priority expenditure in the short term so as not to cause undue concern to statutory enforcement bodies or risk to healthcare delivery or safety, across the trust’s sites in the county.
Pilgrim Hospital in Boston needs £31.4m of repairs, the most of any hospital in the county, according to the NHS Digital data. Lincoln County Hospital needs just over £21.9m of work, while repairs to the tune of more than £14.7m are necessary at Grantham Hospital.
The union says health workers at Grantham Hospital are having to deal with toilets constantly flooding and staff rest areas with no working lighting.
UNISON East Midlands regional organiser Carol Brown said: “These huge repair bills will spiral out of control unless the government urgently provides the United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS trust with the money needed to make its hospital buildings safe.
“Staff are being asked to deliver vital healthcare services to patients in buildings which are not fit for purpose. This is totally unreasonable. Staff should not be asked to take breaks in rooms with no working lights or be nervous at using toilets for fear of blocking them.”