The revelation has sparked fresh fears that ceilings at affected hospitals could suddenly collapse, injuring staff and patients, and calls for urgent action to tackle the problem. Maria Caulfield, the health secretary, made the revelation in a written response to a parliamentary question posed by Lib Dem health spokeswoman Daisy Cooper. Caulfield said investigations carried out by the NHS found that 34 buildings in 16 different health centers contained reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RACC), which one hospital chief has likened to an “Aero chocolate bar”. RACC was widely used in hospital and school construction in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, but has a 30-year lifespan and is now causing serious problems. In 2020, Simon Corben, NHS England’s property director, said the RAAC planks were a “significant safety risk” because their age meant they could fall without warning. Caulfield’s admission means more NHS facilities are at risk from RAAC than previously thought. Until now, 13 trusts were believed to be affected, but the minister put the number at 16. Her response did not identify the 16 trusts involved or show how many of the “34 buildings containing RAAC boards” were hospitals where patients are treated. However, the identities of some of the hospitals in question are already known, including Hinchingbrooke in Cambridgeshire, Frimley Park in Surrey and Airedale in Yorkshire. “It is simply unthinkable that patients are being treated in buildings that are at risk of collapsing,” said Ed Davey, Lib Dem leader. “From record waiting lists to collapsing hospital roofs, patients are paying the price for years of Conservative neglect of our NHS.” Many hospitals now have to use steel supports to hold up the roofs to reduce the risk of this happening. One – Queen Elizabeth in King’s Lynn, close to Liz Truss’ South West constituency for the Conservative leadership, is currently fielding no fewer than 1,500 supporters. In a televised leadership debate with her rival Rishi Sunak last month, Truss expressed concern about the large number of hospitals in England that had major structural problems. “I fear that some of our hospitals are collapsing. Queen Elizabeth in King’s Lynn, near me – parts of the hospital are held up by stilts. This is not good enough for patients across the NHS,” he said. Caroline Shaw, chief executive of the hospital, told The Sunday Times last month that “the roof is like an Aero bar. There are bubbles in the concrete and we check it daily to make sure those bubbles don’t break and the roof doesn’t come down. It really is like a ticking time bomb.” He added: “For patients lying in bed and seeing these braces, they feel quite insecure.” The hospital had to evacuate patients from its intensive care unit last year and transfer some to hospitals 40 miles away amid fears the roof could collapse. But Davey pointed out that Truss was among recent governments that had resisted calls from NHS leaders for a significant increase in the service’s capital budget to enable an overhaul of its aging, sometimes dangerously inadequate estate. “It is outrageous that Liz Truss is openly reporting that her local constituency hospital has been fitted with these roofs, despite sitting in the Cabinet and being a senior member of successive Conservative governments. This government’s failed NHS record of record waiting times and collapsing hospitals is also its record of failure,” he said. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Last year, a whistleblower at West Suffolk Hospital, which also has RACC boards, revealed to the BBC that it had commissioned a law firm to assess the risk of facing corporate manslaughter charges if a sudden roof collapse proved fatal. Hinchingbrooke last year banned patients weighing more than 19 stone from having surgery in two of its operating theaters in case it put too much pressure on the floor. Pippa Heylings, a councilor in Cambridgeshire, said: “We want to see a health minister at our local hospital this week to find out and finally take urgent action.” In her response, Caulfield told Cooper that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) had set aside £110m “to mitigate the immediate risk” and that trusts would receive an extra £575m to help. However, many of the affected trusts say it would be cheaper to build a new hospital than rebuild one full of RACCs. A DHSC spokesman said: “We are taking action to improve health infrastructure across the country and have provided more than £4 billion for trusts to support local priorities – including maintaining and refurbishing their premises – and have allocated over 685 £million to immediately address issues relating to the use of RAAC on the NHS estate. “By 2030 we will have 40 new hospitals providing state-of-the-art facilities to ensure the delivery of world-class healthcare for NHS patients and staff, replacing aging infrastructure.”
