Providers face capital lottery

30 September 2019

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Drawing on the Estates Returns Information Collection (ERIC) for 2017/18, NHS Providers said trusts faced a postcode lottery for capital. Its analysis found that half of the clinical service incidents that were caused by building or infrastructure issues occurred in the north of England (the North West and North East and Yorkshire regions).

London trusts had more high-risk backlog maintenance than the other six regions combined. But they received only 3% of the additional funding announced by the government in August. Just under 40% of community trusts are in the Midlands, yet account for 66% of backlog maintenance in community providers.

The analysis is part of an NHS Providers campaign calling on the government to set multi-year capital funding, commit to bringing capital funding in line with comparable countries and establish an efficient and effective needs-based mechanism for prioritising, accessing and spending capital.

‘We need to rebuild our NHS, and give hardworking NHS staff the tools to create the 21st century health service that patients expect and that we can all be proud of,’ said Chris Hopson, NHS Providers chief executive.

‘We know the government shares our aim of a properly-funded and well-designed system of capital funding, but this analysis shows the urgent need for action right across the different sectors of the NHS and the country. The risk to patients is rising every day the government does not act.’