Hundreds of millions of pounds needed to repair crumbling buildings at Nottingham University Hospitals Trust

Across England, a growing number of buildings are in a poor state, with the repair bill climbing to £11.6 billion last year.

NHS Providers, the body which represents NHS hospital, mental health, community and ambulance services, said the rate at which the bill is rising is "alarming", and urged the Government to provide much-needed investment in broken buildings.

The latest NHS Digital figures show £438 million is needed to restore buildings at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust to certain standards as of March.

This work should have already taken place and covers everything from leaky gutters and faulty lifts to critical electrical and structural issues in hospital buildings. It does not include planned maintenance due to be undertaken.

Of this, just £13 million is required to fix high-risk issues, which NHS reports say must be addressed with urgent priority to prevent catastrophic failure, major disruption to clinical services, or safety deficiencies liable to cause serious injury.

The most expensive site was Queen's Medical Centre, with £239 million needed to complete all the necessary repairs.

A spokesperson for Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust said: “Our Trust has a total backlog of £437m. We have an ageing estate; some buildings on our City campus date back to the early 1900s, and the Queen’s Medical Centre was built in the 1970s as part of the government’s hospital rebuilding programme. We recognise that there is a need for major investment in core engineering infrastructure and building fabric.

“We continue to invest annually in our estate, sourcing external funding to support improvements wherever possible. Examples of this include the £140m Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme funding we have been granted to convert old gas and steam heating systems with low-carbon alternatives, such as ground and air-source heat-pumps (due for completion in 2025/26). Such schemes will bring about improvements to our backlog.

“Our Tomorrow’s NUH is well underway as part of the New Hospitals Programme. This will see major investment in refurbishment and new build over the next decade, further reducing our overall backlog.”

Nationally, the maintenance backlog rose by more 13 per cent last year, including £2.4 billion earmarked to eradicate the high-risk backlog.