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Lib Dems and health trusts say patient and staff safety being put at risk by poor state of ageing infrastructure

Millions of patients are being put at risk in crumbling hospitals that are unfit for purpose, MPs have said, as figures reveal more than 2,000 NHS buildings are older than the health service itself.

Health bosses have repeatedly warned ministers of the urgent need to plough cash into replacing rundown buildings in order to protect the safety of patients and staff. The maintenance backlog has risen to £11.6bn in England.

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Readers highlight inefficiencies in the health service’s outdated mode of communication

I had to laugh at concerns that a reduction in Royal Mail deliveries would affect NHS patients ( Plans for Royal Mail delivery cuts could risk patient safety, NHS leaders warn, 6 April ).

I’m under the care of two NHS departments. From one I get digital letters, as is my preference (I’m 60, and expect this to be the norm). When I asked the other department to do the same, I was told that all they have is an old Nokia phone so they can’t send digital copies.

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Exclusive: NHS bosses forced to spend millions on pest control in decrepit, rundown buildings

Thousands of pests including rats, cockroaches and bedbugs have been found at NHS hospitals in England as the health service buckles under a record high repair bill.

Hospital bosses are having to spend millions of pounds on pest control after discovering lice, flies and rodents in children’s wards, breast clinics, maternity units, A&E departments and kitchens, in the most graphic illustration yet of the dismal and dangerous state of the NHS estate.

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ONS figures suggest 9.7 million people are waiting for hospital appointment or treatment

Almost 10 million people across England could be waiting for an NHS appointment or treatment, 2 million more than previously suggested, according to a survey by the Office for National Statistics.

The ONS survey of about 90,000 adults found that over one in five (21%) were waiting for a hospital appointment or to start receiving treatment on the NHS.

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New research into the dying brain suggests the line between life and death may be less distinct than previously thought

Patient One was 24 years old and pregnant with her third child when she was taken off life support. It was 2014. A couple of years earlier, she had been diagnosed with a disorder that caused an irregular heartbeat, and during her two previous pregnancies she had suffered seizures and faintings. Four weeks into her third pregnancy, she collapsed on the floor of her home. Her mother, who was with her, called 911. By the time an ambulance arrived, Patient One had been unconscious for more than 10 minutes. Paramedics found that her heart had stopped.

After being driven to a hospital where she couldn’t be treated, Patient One was taken to the emergency department at the University of Michigan. There, medical staff had to shock her chest three times with a defibrillator before they could restart her heart. She was placed on an external ventilator and pacemaker, and transferred to the neurointensive care unit, where doctors monitored her brain activity. She was unresponsive to external stimuli, and had a massive swelling in her brain. After she lay in a deep coma for three days, her family decided it was best to take her off life support. It was at that point – after her oxygen was turned off and nurses pulled the breathing tube from her throat – that Patient One became one of the most intriguing scientific subjects in recent history.

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Rishi Sunak promised speedier care, but specialists believe long waits for hospital beds are costing thousands of lives

On one half of Rishi Sunak’s NHS pledge to voters, there has been some modest progress in recent months. Waiting lists for pre-planned hospital treatment and outpatient appointments in England fell from 7.8m to 7.6m between September and December last year. Given the intense pressures on the health system from multiple directions, this improvement is a remarkable achievement by the trusts that brought it about – even while the overall situation remains dire, with waiting lists predicted to remain longer than before the pandemic until 2030 at the earliest.

But the prime minister’s commitment was not limited to waiting lists. The pledge he made in January last year, as one of five priorities on which he said voters should judge him, was that “NHS waiting lists will fall and people will get the care they need more quickly”. New calculations by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) show that, with regard to the broader aim of delivering speedier treatment, his government is falling shockingly short .

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RCEM calculates 268 people are likely to have died each week in 2023 while waiting up to 12 hours for a bed

Almost 14,000 people died needlessly last year in England while waiting in A&E for up to 12 hours for a hospital bed, a new estimate suggests.

Calculations by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) based on a large study of excess deaths and waiting times show that 268 people are likely to have died each week in 2023 because of excessive waits in emergency departments.

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Christopher Sidle was refused crisis admission to hospital despite warnings and died after self-harming

A series of failings by a troubled NHS mental health trust contributed to the death of a former government climate change adviser, a coroner has found.

Christopher Sidle, 51, who had a history of psychosis, fatally self-harmed on 1 July last year during a psychotic episode two days after being refused a crisis admission by Norfolk and Suffolk foundation trust (NSFT) despite warnings from his family and a trust psychiatrist, Norfolk coroner’s court heard.

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