£500m backlog for hospital upgrades

Hospitals with mental health services are some of the most poorly
maintained in the NHS, with a backlog of upgrading work worth
nearly £500m, figures show.

Department of Health statistics provided to the Liberal Democrats
indicate that, in 2002-3, work worth £493m was needed to bring
mental health hospitals up to the DoH’s own “acceptable” standards
for buildings.

Since 1989, each hospital has judged the standards of its buildings
against a five-level scale – the acceptable standard is classed as
‘B’. These scores will be fed into the overall star rating for each
trust.