• The Estates Returns Information Collection (ERIC) data has been published today by NHS Digital.
• It comprises of information relating to the costs of providing and maintaining the NHS Estate including buildings, maintaining and equipping hospitals, the provision of services, and the costs and consumption of utilities.
• It finds that the cost to eradicate backlog maintenance has increased by 7.5% from last year – reaching £5.96bn.
• Additionally, it found the total costs of running the NHS estate were £8.8bn.

Responding to the Estates Returns Information Collection (ERIC) published today, the head of policy at NHS Providers, Amber Jabbal said:

"We need to act now to ensure vital repair works are carried out to NHS buildings and equipment. There are now nearly £6bn worth of works needed in NHS facilities, the highest figure on record.

"Although more of the capital spending this year has been targeted at reducing the backlog of repairs, this is likely to have come at the expense of investing in new equipment and facilities to improve the experience of patients. While this approach shows trusts are rightly prioritising immediate concerns about safety, they are increasingly unable to take a longer term, strategic approach to investment. 

While this approach shows trusts are rightly prioritising immediate concerns about safety, they are increasingly unable to take a longer term, strategic approach to investment.

"Trusts will have had to delay, cancel or rethink capital investment because this funding is constrained across the NHS. Underinvestment in the NHS estate is a false economy. For too long capital budgets have been used to prop up day to day spending. This approach is unsustainable. 

"The ongoing review of NHS capital spending needs to produce a strategy for adequate investment that moves away from the current approach of piecemeal funding interventions."