Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether any hospitals will need to close due to reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).

The National Health Service has been surveying sites and undertaking reinforce autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) mitigation work since 2019 and already has a comprehensive mitigation plan in place for hospital buildings with RAAC. This includes significant additional funding, £698 million from 2021 to 2025. Additionally, in May 2023 we announced that the seven NHS hospitals most affected by RAAC will be replaced by 2030 through the New Hospital Programme, and that we remain committed to eradicating RAAC from the NHS estate entirely by 2035.

The nature of hospital sites, typically with a large estate footprint and a range of ongoing maintenance programmes, means mitigation works can be carried out with relatively minimal service disruption, including relocating wards where necessary. Reducing the availability of advanced clinical settings could cause potential harm to patients. Keeping capacity open but being scrupulous about RAAC monitoring and mitigation until the RAAC can be removed is fully in line with the current evidence and recommendations of the Institute of Structural Engineers.

There is ongoing engagement with trusts on a national and regional level to ensure RAAC is being fully identified across the NHS estate, and the NHS has plans in place to manage any change in position with RAAC as part of the ongoing work every trust undertakes to plan for a wide range of scenarios.