NHS repair bill climbs to record £17.3bn as estates continue to deteriorate

The cost of repairing deteriorating NHS buildings and equipment in England has risen to £17.3 billion, prompting renewed warnings about the safety and suitability of parts of the health service estate.

The latest Estates Returns Information Collection data for 2025/26 shows another increase from the £15.9 billion backlog reported a year earlier. The figure represents the estimated cost of restoring NHS facilities and equipment to an acceptable condition, excluding routine planned maintenance.

Problems across the estate include outdated equipment, failing technology, leaking roofs, sewage entering clinical areas and buildings containing reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete. Ageing infrastructure can also disrupt services, close clinical spaces and force trusts to spend money on urgent repairs rather than improvements to patient care.

The King’s Fund described the condition of parts of the NHS estate as a national embarrassment and warned that many healthcare buildings are poorly equipped to cope with flooding, burst pipes and increasingly severe summer heat.

The government’s ten-year capital plan is intended to improve health and care buildings and support more services outside hospital. However, health policy experts have warned that long-term ambitions will be difficult to deliver unless NHS capital budgets are protected and sustained investment is made in the buildings used by patients and staff.

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