NHS trust wins £4m for repairs after rebuild delay

A hospital that previously said it had a £100m maintenance backlog has been given a share of £4.4m for repairs.

Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, which is awaiting a delayed rebuild, and Bracknell Healthspace will split the government grant.

A £750m funding package, earmarked in the Autumn Budget, has been parcelled out to NHS trusts in England.

Sites in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight have been given more than £20m, with more than £15m allocated to Oxfordshire and more than £6m to Dorset.

The government said the funding would fix leaky pipes, poor ventilation and electrical issues in "crumbling" hospitals.

In January, Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust said ministers' decision to delay the £2bn rebuild until at least 2037 was a "serious concern".

Chief executive Steve McManus said maintaining the hospital until then could cost nearly £400m.

Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which is also awaiting a delayed new hospital, has been allocated £1.6m.

Oxford's John Radcliffe (JR) Hospital and the Horton General Hospital in Banbury have together been given £10m.

In January 2024, the Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, Layla Moran, said the JR needed £147m for repairs.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the grants, announced on Friday, would prevent cancelled appointments and operations.

He said: "A decade and a half of underinvestment left hospitals crumbling, with burst pipes flooding emergency departments, faulty electrical systems shutting down operating theatres, and mothers giving birth in outdated facilities that lack basic dignity."

The Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats have previously criticised the Labour government's decision to pause the building of some new hospitals.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents health managers, said the £750m allocated in England was a "small down payment on the £14bn maintenance backlog that remains".

Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust said its grant was a "necessary interim step" before the new hospital was built.

It added: "We had hoped for more given the size of our total backlog maintenance capital requirement of circa £160m, of which Critical Infrastructure backlog is circa £90m."

• John Radcliffe Hospital (Oxford), Horton General Hospital (Banbury) - £10m
• Southampton General Hospital, Princess Anne Hospital (Southampton) - £7.3m
• Royal Berkshire Hospital (Reading), Bracknell Health Space - £4.4m
• Poole General Hospital, Royal Bournemouth Hospital - £2.8m
• Dorset County Hospital (Dorchester) - £2.7m
• Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital, Royal Hampshire County Hospital (Winchester) - £1.6m
• St Mary's Hospital (Isle of Wight) - £1.1m
• Queen Alexandra Hospital (Portsmouth), Health Records Library, Totton Renal Services, St Marys Community Hospital - £220,000

(source: DHSC)

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