MILLIONS of pounds worth of repairs are urgently required to prevent catastrophic risks to safety at Basildon and Southend Hospitals.

More than £30million needs to be spent including almost £10million immediately to prevent major failings, according to new figures.

Data from NHS Digital has revealed Basildon Hospital has a backlog of £17.8 million worth of repairs or replacements which should have been carried out on its buildings and equipment.

Around £6.8 million worth of the outstanding jobs are classed as “high risk” repairs.

Southend Hospital is currently sitting on a backlog of £15.3 million worth of repairs or replacements which should have been carried out on its buildings and equipment, with £2 million considered “high risk” repairs.

The infrastructure at the two hospitals is already leading to incidents where patients were either harmed or put at risk of harm.

According to the data, which covers the 12 months to March, problems with Southend Hospital’s trust’s infrastructure led to 206 incidents. At Basildon Hospital, it led to 62 incidents.

Siva Anandaciva, chief analyst at independent health think tank the King’s Fund, said: “Continued underinvestment has left some hospitals delivering healthcare in buildings that are quite literally falling apart. Deteriorating facilities and unreliable equipment can expose staff and patients to increasing safety risks, and make NHS services less productive as operations and appointments may be cancelled at short notice.”

John Henry, director of specialist services for Southend Hospital and Basildon Hospital said: “The costs relate to work that both trusts have identified as needing to be carried out. Southend and Basildon hospitals both agreed capital funding to focus on our high risk and significant risk backlogs. Each year the trusts identify schemes for capital funding but due to the fixed amount of capital funding available we have to prioritise the most important.”