Maintenance costs across Ayrshire hospitals are sitting at an eye-watering £74.5 million.
A series of Freedom of Information requests by the Scottish Conservatives flagged the costly repair work still to be carried out across Scotland’s 14 health boards.
In NHS Ayrshire and Arran, it was revealed that maintenance costs, from 2021/22, now sit at £74,590,000 - an increase of £5.89 million from the £68,700,000 required funds in 2017/18.
Ayrshire MSP Sharon Dowey has blasted the Scottish Government for "neglecting" and "failing to fund" the health board.
She is now calling on government bosses to address the region’s spiralling figures and help NHS staff to be “fully prepared to support patients this winter and beyond.”
Mrs Dowey said: “I couldn’t believe my eyes when I came across these figures.
“The increase in maintenance work that must be carried out in NHS Ayrshire and Arran shows us the extent to which the SNP have neglected our health boards.
“By failing to fund our health boards properly, many of our crucial health services here in Ayrshire have been allowed to fall into a state of disrepair. That’s why many of these repairs are now deemed significant or high risk.
“We already know that our NHS is under huge financial strain and this maintenance backlog will only stifle efforts to get our health service back on track. This wouldn’t have been the case if SNP health secretaries had kept on top of things over the last decade."
She added that she feared a rise in cancelled operations and further delays in treatment could be on the cards if the required repairs weren’t carried out soon.
Mrs Dowey added: “Humza Yousaf must set out a plan to address this maintenance backlog, so that NHS Ayrshire and Arran is fully prepared to support patients this winter and beyond.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We are fully supportive of the need to properly maintain and invest in our existing estate and are doubling annual funding for maintenance.
“We will invest over £1 billion across Scotland in enhancing or refurbishing existing health facilities, and updating and modernising medical equipment that is essential for delivering high quality medical services.”
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