'Significant risk' already delayed Airedale Hospital rebuild falls further behind, report finds
Airedale Hospital in Keighley urgently needs to be replaced due to the crumbling reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).
Airedale hospital remains at serious risk of significant deterioration from crumbling reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) with the cost of running repairs to it and six others now expected to reach £1 billion, a new report has found.
It said delays in rebuilding the seven hospitals were adding huge pressure to public finances, while timetable slippages were increasing risks to staff and patients, and called for the Government to be ‘straight’ with the public by issuing annual update reports.
Building made from RAAC were initially designed to have a lifespan of 30 years, but with many built in the 1960s and 70s, many are now twice as old as they were ever intended to be.
Buildings constructed from RAAC are susceptible to structural failure, and today’s report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said schemes to replace RAAC hospitals need to proceed at pace.
In 2022, an independent report commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care found all RAAC hospitals should be replaced by 2030 at the latest, while a 2025 report found those seven hospitals could stay operational past 2030 but with significant risk and cost.
The government’s new timetable has final RAAC replacement schemes for the seven hospitals including Airedale due to finish in 2033. This is two to three years later than originally planned.
The report found the Government has already spent £500m on maintenance and mitigations to ensure patient and staff safety for RAAC hospitals, with the PAC’s inquiry told that trusts with RAAC hospitals will receive a further £440m.
The PAC received evidence highlighting that such maintenance reduces risk in RAAC hospitals, but cannot remove it where RAAC planks are inaccessible.
The committee has called on the government to “learn the lessons from RAAC on the importance of investing in the NHS estate in a timely manner, and to publish a strategy for investing in NHS capital assets.”
Further, it says there is a ‘significant risk’ the already delayed rebuilding programme will fall further behind.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said: “Every year that sees delays to the replacement of RAAC hospitals is a year of borrowed time.
“This is time borrowed at the expense of the safety of patients and staff, and from the taxpayer in the costs of mitigation and maintenance.
“Such maintenance cannot de-risk this material entirely; indeed, our report finds that up to 6 per cent of failure-prone RAAC in hospitals cannot be accessed.
“We are glad the government agrees that RAAC in hospitals must be addressed as soon as possible, but our Committee is seeking to bear down further on this issue.
“The Government must be straight with the public through annual reports to Parliament on its progress in stripping RAAC out of the hospital estate entirely.”
Airedale was one of the 40 “new” hospitals which Boris Johnson claimed would be completed before 2030, ahead of the 2019 election.
“My first priority was the RAAC hospitals and remains the RAAC hospitals, and so I’m pleased to report that the timetable set out in our NHP is on track.
“There has been works and mitigation going on in the meantime, to make sure that during that time the hospital is safe.”
Stuart Shaw, the officer in charge of Airedale’s redevelopment, said: “we urgently need our new hospital and are working to deliver this as quickly as possible.
“We are already under way with the work needed to get the site ready for building and the next step is submitting the outline planning application, which we will do this summer.
“In the meantime, we are continuing to ensure the safety of our patients, visitors, and staff with an extensive programme of rolling inspections and RAAC structural support work.”
The Department for Health and Social Care has been contacted for comment.