The architecture of isolation 2 - Late November 2023

Serendipity

What is serendipity? It’s what happened to me just after finishing off the first post in this series.

After scheduling the post, I opened the electronic version of the Times, and my eye was caught by an article titled “ Crumbling hospitals will close before new ones are ready, MPs warn. “

Apparently, at least 12 of the 1500 NHS hospitals were built with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), which, for reasons beyond my ken, is failing to support the structures that need shoring up. This is to avoid patients having the ceiling as a bedmate unless quick action is taken.

The DHSC launched a modernisation programme and increased bed capacity based on politicians’ promises to the electorate in 2019. 35 Billion Pounds will get the UK 40 new hospitals by 2030 thanks to the New Hospital Programme. 

Dame Meg Hillier (who seems to be doing what MPs should be doing) and her colleague Steve Brine MP, are worried about delays, insufficient planned hospital size, cost escalation, and the inclu…