A third of Scotland's NHS buildings need upgraded

Published on Wednesday 28 January 2009 20:55

A THIRD of NHS buildings are in need of major upgrading – and in some areas almost half of the estate is in need of repair, a report revealed yesterday.

Audit Scotland said that 29 per cent of the NHS estate required major upgrading in the next few years – while a further one per cent was "in serious risk of imminent breakdown".

But the organisation criticised the lack of information available from health boards on the state of their assets, including buildings, medical equipment and vehicles.

Just 11 out of 19 health boards were able to provide data on the condition of their land and buildings. Those that were unable to give the information included NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde – Scotland's biggest health board.

Nick Hex, a health portfolio manager at Audit Scotland, said of the boards they got information from, NHS Lothian had the largest proportion of buildings in need of upgrading at 48 per cent.

This was followed by NHS Tayside at 43 per cent and NHS Highland at 28 per cent.

Asked if the figures were surprising, Mr Hex pointed out that more than two-thirds of the NHS-owned estate was built before 1980 which may explain why so many required upgrading almost 30 years on.

Sixteen NHS bodies did provide details of how much it would cost to bring their estate up to its original condition – with the maintenance backlog totalling 512 million

Across Scotland 20 per cent of the NHS estate was not suitable for the purposes it was used for, while 3 per cent was classed as "unacceptable". Audit Scotland found that 23 per cent of the estate was underused, 3 per cent empty and 11 per cent overcrowded.