Steve Barclay was encouraged to apologise to patients over the discovery of crumbling concrete in hospitals during an awkward Sky News interview this morning.
The health secretary was responding to a new Guardian report which claims the government chose to delay rebuilding work on five hospital buildings riddled with RAAC (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete) in 2020.
The Department of Health and Social Care reportedly requested funds to fix the structural issues, only for the Treasury – led by then-chancellor Rishi Sunak and his chief secretary Barclay at the time – to shoot them down.
There were then more than 100 safety incidents across those hospitals which led to clinical services being delayed or cancelled in the following year.
Sky News presenter Jayne Secker asked Barclay: “Do you want to apologise to the patients who didn’t have their operations because the building was crumbling around them?”
Barclay didn’t directly answer the question, but said the government has put aside £700 million to fix crumbling concrete in hospitals – although Secker cut in to say that was only introduced “years later”.
He insisted: “That’s because you have to assess if it requires replacements of certain parts of a hospital or a brand new hospital to be built.”
Barclay also claimed three of those hospitals’ needs have already been addressed, as only certain parts of the RAAC in the infrastructure needed to be replaced.
He also suggested Sunak is “making the biggest ever investment in the hospital estate” with over £20 million, adding: ″We are on this issue early, we’ve been surveying the site...”
But Secker cut in: “Doesn’t sound like you were on this issue early – this was three years ago, the hospital was asking.”
After she listed off the five hospitals impacted by RAAC, she added: “Sounds like you’re putting saving money before patients’ safety?”
But Barclay insisted: “No – I’m not sure you heard the answer I gave just a moment ago, which is we’ve put in place £700m for RAAC replacement.”