NHS will take 6-8 months to assess risk from dangerous concrete

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today revealed that it will take 6-8 months for NHS Scotland to assess the prevalence of a dangerous form of concrete used by health boards and that practical work to do this has still not begun despite an urgent safety notice being issued almost six months ago.

In February, NHS Scotland issued a safety action notice, warning that roofs, walls and flooring made of reinforced aerated autoclaved concrete (RAAC) are at “risk of catastrophic structural failure” which could occur “suddenly” and “without warning” and announced a programme to survey their existing estate with the aim of identifying buildings where RAAC planks either are, or potentially could be, in situ.

Responding to a Scottish Liberal Democrat freedom of information request asking for an update on the Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) Survey Programme, NHS National Services Scotland said:

“NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) has completed the desktop review stage. This involved gathering information on the various properties to be reviewed. We will now begin the on-site discovery survey stage, which we expect will take 6 to 8 months to complete.”

However, a briefing note prepared by the UK Government’s Department of Education warned that for sites classified as critical risk, urgent remedial action should be carried out within 3-6 months.

Scottish Liberal Democrats are calling for a national fund to help authorities make safe public buildings such as schools and hospitals.

Mr Cole-Hamilton said:

“Patients will be concerned to hear that despite an NHS action notice being issued in February it will be at least another six months before properties have even been reviewed, never mind remedial action taken.

“A school roof made of this concrete has collapsed in England. When you see public bodies elsewhere in the UK issuing urgent instructions for action, you begin to wonder whether health bosses and ministers are treating this with the urgency it deserves.

“Given how widespread use of this concrete seems to have been in public sector construction, assessing and removing RAAC has the potential to turn into a vast project. The Scottish Government must set out how it will help cash-strapped schools, universities, hospitals and more to cope with any remedial works that need to take place.”