A report from the British Medical Association (BMA), released in December, has concluded that outdated and poorly laid-out healthcare buildings, in dire need of repair and modernisation, are hampering the efforts of doctors to provide safe and quality care to patients.
The report is based on research and analysis from the BMA, including feedback from doctors through an online survey conducted in February 2022. It calls on all UK governments, across the four nations, to provide the necessary funding to urgently clear existing maintenance backlogs – or decide to rebuild sites that may no longer be appropriate to repair – in order to protect doctors and patients, and to prevent the list of remedial repairs required growing further.
Through the BMA survey 38% of doctors reported that the overall physical condition of their workplaces is either poor or very poor, whilst 43% told the BMA that the condition of their workplace has a negative impact on patient care. Also included in the report are a series of first-hand testimonies from doctors revealing worrying safety incidents.
As well as issues around disrepair, including leaking ceilings, peeling walls and faulty electrics, doctors also commented on how old, cramped and poorly designed hospitals and GP practices are incompatible with running a 21st century health service, with concerns around appropriate ventilation and infection prevention and control (IPC) measures being paramount. Lack of space often means doctors do not have suitable rest facilities, room to accommodate additional staff, or places where clinicians can discuss sensitive and confidential information with patients and their next of kin.
As well as calling for UK governments to provide the funding to address backlog maintenance, the BMA recommends that doctors should be empowered to immediately raise concerns where building conditions present a risk to patient survey and that all UK governments must launch transparent and independently audited national reviews of the condition of the primary and secondary healthcare estates, which should include an urgent review of IPC and ventilation with dedicated funding provided for improvements and retrofitting.
“It is a national scandal that a continued failure to invest properly in the bricks and mortar of our hospitals and GP practices is threatening safe patient care,” says Dr Latifa Patel, BMA representative body chair. “The scenes described by our members in this report are not what we would expect to see in a 21st century health service in one of the world’s richest countries. Yet for doctors, the shocking accounts of leaking ceilings, peeling walls and faulty electrics will come as no surprise, as the state of disrepair is so endemic across the NHS.”
A second report, published alongside this one, reveals further frustration from doctors with the digital infrastructure of the NHS, with out-of-date, slow and incompatible IT systems and hardware costing valuable staff time and again putting patient safety at risk.
