A troubled hospital faces a £90 million bill to fix a “significant backlog” of repairs.
Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport, Greater Manchester, has struggled with significant problems with its facilities over the past year and has been forced to close its Outpatients Department B at the end of 2023 due to “significant deterioration” of the building.
Since then, problems have continued: staff and patients have had to contend with flooded corridors and collapsing ceilings.
The trust that runs the hospital said it was reviewing plans to build another hospital in Stockport to meet the “ever-increasing demand” for its services at Stepping Hill, which is currently “not conducive to modern medicine”.
The new Labour government has pledged to provide investment for the ageing site, which opened in 1905, but officials at Stockport NHS Foundation Trust said the cost of fixing the problems would be far higher than the annual grants from Westminster.
The trust receives £14 million annually to deal with matters relating to its assets and other tasks, such as replacing equipment and maintaining the hospital’s IT facilities.
But Karen James, the trust’s executive director, said the money was not enough.
She said: “Stockport Hospital is quite an old hospital, the main façade dates back to 1905, which causes a lot of problems in terms of maintaining the building.”
“Other buildings are over 50 years old and therefore require considerable maintenance.
“Every year we are allocated capital funds to address some of these maintenance backlogs, but this must cover not only the real estate issues but also the IT infrastructure and equipment replacement.
“We have a significant backlog of maintenance issues, so the allocations we receive will not cover that.”
The trust confirmed it was reviewing plans to build an additional hospital in Stockport town centre.
This would help meet the “ever-increasing demand” for hospital services at Stepping Hill, which are currently “not conducive to modern medicine”.
The aim is to replace a “substantial part” of the current site with a new site in Stockport.
Earlier this week, Cheadle MP Tom Morrison again asked for funds for “urgent” repair work at Stepping Hill, with the long-term aim of rebuilding the site.
Mr Morrison said: “Stepping Hill cannot continue on the site it stands on, we need a modern hospital building.”
