One in five people think that the quality of their local hospital building infrastructure makes it an unsafe place to be treated, a poll has revealed.
Britons fear rat infestations, collapsing roofs and sewage leaks, the survey for the Liberal Democrats showed.
Their Health and Social Care spokeswoman Helen Morgan MP said: “It’s shocking that so many patients no longer trust the buildings they rely on to get better, fearing the very walls they’re treated in might crumble. Patients should only worry about their health—not whether the roof will cave in on them.”
While 19% of people felt their local hospital building was unsafe, a similar number of people were unsure if their hospital building was safe, with just under a third (30%) saying they did not know.
It means that close to half (49%) of people either thought their hospital building was unsafe or did not know if it was safe or not.
Of those who felt their local hospital building was not safe to be treated in, 34% of people said it was because they feared the power going off and 32% that the heating would fail.
More than a quarter of this group said it was because they thought that the roof might collapse (27%), and another quarter that there might be a rodent/insect infestation (26%).
A further 20% of people said that it was because they thought there might be a sewage leak or flooding.
Ms Morgan added: “The previous Conservative government’s neglect of the NHS brought us to this disgraceful point. Yet, the Labour government has failed to act fast enough to protect patients from these decaying buildings.
“Ministers must tackle this crisis head-on by creating a dedicated taskforce to drive urgent repairs and safeguard patients.
“We should be rebuilding the NHS to be the envy of the world it once was, but until these decaying hospitals are fixed, patients will keep paying the price.”
The cost of repairing crumbling NHS buildings in England has soared to almost £14billion, prompting warnings that patients and staff are at risk from falling roofs and faulty equipment.
The repair bill faced by the health service to make its estate fit for purpose has more than trebled from £4.5bn in 2012-13 to £13.8bn last year, according to NHS England data.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “No one is under any illusions that the NHS estate we inherited is crumbling, but repairing and rebuilding our hospital estate is a key part of our ambition to create a health service fit for the future.
“The New Hospital Programme is now on a credible and sustainable footing and we are committed to delivering all schemes and we are also investing over £1 billion to address the backlog of critical NHS maintenance and repairs and tackle dangerous RAAC concrete, to help ensure hospitals are safe and sustainable.”
