A Merseyside hospital made of "chocolate Aero" concrete is among dozens of NHS buildings described as "ticking time bombs".
Aintree University Hospital is one of 34 NHS buildings constructed with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) between the 1960s and 1990s. The special type of concrete contains air bubbles and was used in hospitals and schools because it is cheap, lightweight and fireproof.
But RAAC has a fixed lifespan of around 30 years, after which its integrity comes into question - an issue which has been known about since the 1990s. The conditions have got progressively worse and the cost of repairing the buildings across the UK is more than £1bn. Today an Aintree hospital spokesperson told the ECHO measures were in place to ensure safety and manage the issue.
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A former NHS trust boss described the concrete as like a "chocolate Aero". Caroline Shaw, speaking as then chief executive of Queen Elizabeth NHS Foundation Trust in Norfolk, said: "There are bubbles in the concrete and we're checking it daily to make sure those bubbles don't break, and the roof doesn't come down. It really is like a ticking time bomb."
Information first obtained by a Mirror Freedom of Information (FOI) request found dozens of buildings were in jeopardy due to the material. The FOI data from the NHS revealed large parts of Aintree University Hospital were made of RAAC, including the block plant rooms, main kitchen, clinics A, B, C, D and F, domestic services centre, imagine department, ward 6, theatre A plantroom/recovery and pre-op.
A spokesperson for Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust told the ECHO: "Work is underway to replace affected areas at Aintree University Hospital. There are also a range of control measures in place to ensure safety, including regular inspections and testing of these affected areas."
Matthew Byatt, president elect of the Institution of Structural Engineers, said RAAC is weaker than traditional concrete. He said: "As a way of visualising RAAC compared to traditional concrete, think of something we all love, chocolate...if concrete was to be represented as a chocolate bar it would probably be a Yorkie bar. Solid, dense, heavy.
"If we add in some nuts or biscuit pieces that would represent the gravel (that combines with sand and cement) within concrete. Now using the same analogy RAAC would be an Aero bar, lightweight, bubbly and lots of air."
Trusts find themselves in the difficult position of grappling with the ongoing problem while maintaining care for patients. A number of hospitals are years past the lifespan of the crumbling concrete, needing hundreds of millions of pounds to replace individual buildings or entire hospitals.
The Mirror confirmed 10 of the 18 trusts have applied for money totalling in excess of £1bn and a number of others have outlined plans for new hospitals entirely - costing billions more. Leighton Hospital, in nearby Crewe, is one of the hospitals revealed to be built almost entirely of RAAC.
Speaking in 2021, James Sumner, who at the time was chief executive of Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust which runs Leighton Hospital, said the trust faced three choices to ensure the safety of the hospital. The trust could either replace 34,000 planks in the hospital, costing £660m and taking a decade to complete, replace the roof panels and build extra wards costing £800m, or build a new hospital entirely at costs of around £600m.
The ultimate decision to deal with the RAAC crisis lies with the government and the Department of Health and Social Care due to the billions of pounds needed. Wes Streeting, Labour's Shadow Health Secretary, said: "The Conservatives literally didn't fix the roof when the sun was shining and now the NHS is crumbling."
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson told the Mirror: "The government is allocating funding annually for the removal of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC), based on NHS trust plans and delivery progress. We are unable to confirm the final spending amount for 22/23 until the end of the financial year, and specific funding for future years has not yet been finalised.
"We have committed to eradicate RAAC from the NHS estate by 2035 and are protecting patient and staff safety in the interim period, including investing over £685 million to directly address urgent risks."
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