Hospital maintenance (FOI)

​Request

Please can you tell me why there is £50 million of maintenance backlog at the current hospital site.

Response

‘Backlog maintenance’ is a general term used to describe the work required to bring hospital plant and buildings up to modern day standards. These modern day expectations can be very different to the standards that were applicable when the building or plant was first commissioned.

The backlog maintenance reflects the aging of hospital buildings and plant as well as the fact that expected standards change over time. The impact is mitigated by appropriately prioritised and scheduled maintenance and asset replacement over the expected life time of buildings and plant.

The General Hospital has a clearly defined schedule of required backlog maintenance in order to be compliant with current building laws and regulations as well as statutory Health Technical Memorandums (HTM’s) required of healthcare providers.

As plant and building infrastructure within the existing General Hospital campus approach the end of their respective serviceable lives they are required to be regularly maintained or replaced in order to meet modern day compliance standards.