Tens of millions of pounds needed to repair Wigan hospital buildings despite being top ranked for maintenance

And yet Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust (WWL) premises are ranked among the best in the country for condition, appearance and maintenance.

Across England, a growing number of buildings are in a poor state, with the repair bill climbing to £11.6bn 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 £39.7m is needed to restore buildings belonging to WWL 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 £1.4m 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 Wigan Infirmary, with £17.8m needed to complete all the necessary repairs.

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

Chief executive of NHS Providers Sir Julian Hartley said: “The cost of trying to patch up creaking buildings and out-of-date facilities is rocketing. Far too many NHS buildings and equipment are in a very bad way and 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."

In October, the Department for Health and Social Care confirmed 42 sites have reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) and must be repaired, but none of these were at WWL.

A WWL spokesperson said: “As a multi-sited trust with buildings dating from the late 1800s up until the present day, we require significant funding to invest and maintain properties across all of our sites.

"Annual maintenance programmes of work are in place to support the upkeep and physical appearance of our buildings, which most recently has included lift refurbishments at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary site.

“As well as the ongoing remedial work that is required day-to-day, we have a number of brand-new multi-million-pound recently completed developments across the Trust, such as the Community Diagnostic Centre and additional Theatre at Leigh Infirmary.

"This is in addition to the work that has just begun at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary on the Endoscopy development and new Theatre at Wrightington Hospital.

"We are also currently engaging in a comprehensive survey to provide condition checks of our hospital buildings which will inform the improvement works required for the next five years.

“We have just been informed that our Patient-Led Assessments of the Care Environment scores on the hospital environment itself for 2023/24 have been revealed and WWL has for the first time gained the top joint spot for acute Trusts, which also makes us top in the region for the first time for the condition, appearance, and maintenance of our buildings.”