UK hospitals record hundreds of sewage leaks

Multiple records describing patients tripping on water and ceiling tiles falling down show that hundreds of sewage leakshave affected England's hospitals during the previous year, causing a “national scandal”.

According to the Independent, data from 55 NHS trusts recorded 456 sewage leaks in hospitals in England during the course of the previous 12 months. With 105 leaks, Leeds Teaching Hospital had the most, while the North Tees and HartlepoolHospitals came in second with 80.

The Liberal Democrats obtained the data through Freedom of Information requests, and some of the responses included information on the type and location of the leaks as a result of workers recording the sewage problems on a centralized system. There have been allegations of urine, “fecal matter,” and “colored water” pouring into hospital wards as well as spilling through the ceiling in a respiratory unit and into a security office.

Forty sewage leaks happened at the Princess Alexandra hospital NHS trust in Harlow, Essex, and staff members documented cases in written data records. One report stated that “raw sewage smell is still ongoing, and staff are struggling to work in these conditions.” They all report feeling queasy, suffering from headaches, and being extremely exhausted. Another staff member expressed concern that a sewage leak had rendered one area of the hospital dangerous, noting that it was embarrassing to manage a department with sewage spilling everywhere and causing a rancid odor, the Guardian reported.

According to NHS Digital, the cost of uncompleted repairs and maintenance on NHS facilities has reached £10.2 billion. This figure excludes planned maintenance work. “In order to prevent catastrophic failure, major disruption to clinical services or deficiencies in safety liable to cause serious injury and/or prosecution,” it has been stated that £1.8 billion must be spent on the “high-risk” backlog.  

It is worth mentioning that Robert Halfon, the Harlow-based Conservative MP, brought up the hospitals’ sewage leak issues in 2018. He said that sewage had been “flowing through the operating theatres” at the time, the BBC reported.

The National Audit Office will soon release a report on its investigation into the government's commitment to build hospitals, according to the BBC.