The backlog of repairs and maintenance costs at Crosshouse Hospital has reached £29million, according to new figures.

The current value of outstanding repairs and maintenance items at Crosshouse Hospital is £29,210,686.10 – with one MSP describing the figure as ‘staggering’.

The last repair and maintenance assessment at Crosshouse was undertaken in June 2018, with the outstanding repairs figure discovered following an Freedom of Information request to the NHS Ayrshire & Arran Health Board.

NHS Ayrshire and Arran have said they will spend just over £3million on repairs this year, with some costs to be reduced by demolishing unfit buildings.

West of Scotland Labour MSP Neil Bibby, who lodged the request, said: “These figures are staggering and back up what patients and staff have been saying – that hospitals like Crosshouse aren’t receiving the investment they need.

“I know a number of Crosshouse patients and staff who were already deeply concerned about budget cuts facing NHS Ayrshire & Arran.

“The Scottish Government must provide the Health Board with the necessary resources for Crosshouse Hospital. It is the SNP Government who are ultimately responsible for footing the bill – they cannot seriously argue that health spending is being protected when hospitals such as Crosshouse have such major repair bills to cover.”

John Wright, Director for Corporate Support Services at NHS Ayrshire and Arran said: “The funding for backlog maintenance is approved each year by Ayrshire and Arran NHS Board as part of NHS Ayrshire & Arran’s Capital Plan.

“For the financial year 2018/19 the allocated funding is £3.04million to be spent on work to reduce overall backlog maintenance costs.

“In addition to this, we have a demolition programme for properties which are no longer fit for purpose and have reached the end of their useful life. These older properties typically have high backlog maintenance costs. By demolishing them and replacing them with new modern state-of-the-art facilities our overall backlog maintenance cost is reduced further.”