The cost of repairing NHS buildings in England hit £11.6bn in 2022-23, while the total costs of running the estate were £12.4 billion – an increase of 12 per cent since 2021-22.

The figures are contained in the 2022-23 Estates Return Information Collection (ERIC), which comprises information relating to the costs of providing and maintaining the NHS estate, including buildings; maintaining and equipping hospitals; the provision of services; and the costs and consumption of utilities.

Backlog maintenance is defined as a measure of how much would need to be invested to restore a building to a certain state, based on assessed risk criteria. It does not cover planned maintenance work, only work that should already have taken place.

The total energy usage from all energy sources across the NHS estate was 11.2 billion kWh – a decrease of 1.65 per cent since 2021-22.

Cleaning services costs totalled £1.3 billion, an increase of 10.3 per cent since 2021-22, with the total cost of providing inpatient food coming in at £0.8 billion, an increase of 13.7 per cent since 2021-22.

The figures were seized upon by chief executive of NHS Providers as evidence that the health service needs more capital investment.

“The cost of trying to patch up creaking buildings and out-of-date facilities is rocketing,” Sir Julian Hartley lamented. “Far too many NHS buildings and equipment are in a very bad way and the latest figures show the situation is just getting worse. The safety of patients and staff is at stake. To provide first-class care, the NHS needs safe, efficient and reliable buildings, facilities and equipment.”

The year has been notorious for the revelation of many hospital buildings containing unsafe reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), but, according to Sir Julian, RAAC is “a symptom of a far bigger and long-running problem”.

He said: “Many trusts – mental health, community, hospital and ambulance services – need major investment to refurbish ageing buildings and tackle risks to the safety of patients and staff. We need the Government to shift gear and inject a significant shot in the arm of capital investment in the NHS.”

In a blog, Nuffield Trust policy advisor Charlotte Wickens said: “The ERIC data comes just a month after the Government published plans to offset the financial pressures created by industrial action by dipping into NHS capital budgets to cover day-to-day running costs of the health service. It shows that the NHS needs to spend £11.6 billion to return its run-down buildings and equipment to a suitable condition.

“This is not about a lick of paint but ensuring safety for patients and staff, and preventing potential major disruption or failure of services because of the state of equipment and buildings.”

Speculating on what will happen if nothing changes, she concluded that “as Sir Robert Naylor’s 2017 review prophesised, without action we will inevitably continue to have a ‘deteriorating NHS estate increasingly unfit for purpose’. A shaky foundation that could undermine the Government’s productivity drive”.