Last weeks NHE365: Backlog event saw panel three discuss how the maintenance and infrastructure backlog has impacted the growing patient backlog the NHS are currently facing.
The panel welcomed Professor Mike Kagioglou, Healthcare Infrastructure, at Western Sydney University in Australia, Dr Zahid Chauhan OBE, Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care at Oldham Council and Dr Kirsty Edmondson-Jones, Strategic Director Of Estates & Facilities at Doncaster & Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Mike Kagioglou said: “One of the certain issues is that everything is connected, and everything is impacted by a backlog of any kind. One way to deal with [infrastructure] backlog is to look at where the opportunities are for alternative locations and start planning those alternatives.”
Dr Kirsty Edmondson-Jones revealed that Doncaster & Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is “not just on the edge of failure, we have in fact already tipped over that”.
“It is a challenge to keep our staff and patients safe on a daily basis and a site like ours could cost more to repair than to build a new hospital.”
