Bury St Edmunds' West Suffolk Hospital expects to spend £74 million on dealing with RAAC structural problems

A hospital has reassured patients its ageing building that is set to be replaced is safe until at least 2030 as it revealed it is spending upwards of £64 million to deal with structural problems.

West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds is one of seven major hospitals known to be affected by a lightweight concrete called RAAC (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete). There are about 10,000 RAAC planks in the roof of its main building in Hardwick Lane and about 5,000 in its walls.

There is due to be a new West Suffolk Hospital by 2030 under the government’s New Hospital Programme - and the Department of Health and Social Care says this is on track.

West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust said the total capital spends to date for all RAAC-related work across the Hardwick Lane site comes in at £64,140,000, which includes putting in a support system for the planks and a new ward to help with capacity while the work is under way.

The bulk of this money has come from the government’s national package of funding for RAAC safety works, including £25 million for this year.

And the trust expects to receive a further £10 million from April 2023 - taking the capital spends to deal with RAAC to over £74 million.

Craig Black, interim chief executive of the trust, said: “We are spending public money on making a building safe that is only going to last for a few years.

“I don’t skip home when I get told we have just been allocated £25m to spend on RAAC - £25m is a massive amount of money that could do some huge good for patient care. Instead we are spending that on shoring up a building that needs replacement. That’s not great.”

He added: “The reality is we need to continue to deliver a service to the population and that money is required in order to provide safe accommodation.”

He said a structural engineer, who is an expert in RAAC, found - given the management programme - the building ‘is safe until [at least] 2030’.

There have been no ‘plank failures’, but Mr Black confirmed there are cracks in the planks, which are assessed as part of the monitoring programme in place.

This programme includes ‘tap tests’ and using radar equipment, with increased surveillance ongoing until the relocation to a new hospital.

If an issue is found, work is undertaken immediately, with temporary props installed to reinforce the plank.

Using the Freedom of Information Act, we found out there are currently 74 short-term props supporting 86 roof planks; 22 of these short-term props are in publicly-accessible areas of the hospital including the labour unit room and the intensive treatment unit corridor.

The short-term props are being replaced as part of a support system that is being implemented across the hospital that will see all 10,299 RAAC roof planks have ‘failsafe’ supports.

Mr Black said the support works for the roof and walls should be finished by spring 2024.

Regarding the impact of the work on patients, Mr Black said some were having to wait longer, including those turning up in A&E.

“We have got two wards out to facilitate the work. We built an extra ward so we are net one ward down at a time,” he said.

This is also while the hospital is battling a ‘huge’ staffing challenge and increased demand.

John Corrie, 76, from Bury St Edmunds, had an operation cancelled in summer 2021 because of problems with the operating theatre’s roof.

Mr Corrie, who underwent the operation a month later, said: “People deserve to know where taxpayers’ money is being spent.

“It’s not wrong to keep people safe, but this has obviously been known about for years and we should have had a new hospital by now. This is the government’s fault, not the hospital’s. I think the hospital is doing its best to keep the building safe for its patients.”

More consultation is now taking place on the outline planning application for a new hospital at the nearby Hardwick Manor site after revisions were made in response to comments, including over access.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said it had set aside over £685 million to directly address issues relating to the use of RAAC in the NHS estate - which is ringfenced funds.

At West Suffolk Hospital, the majority of the spends on RAAC has been on the main hospital building.

Andy Yacoub, chief executive of Healthwatch Suffolk, said: “While discussion around ward closures may initially alarm members of the public, the temporary measures being taken are for the safety of all staff, volunteers, and patients."