St Helier Hospital has shut 13 beds for frail and elderly patients after cracks appeared in walls. Its chief executive meets national NHS officials on Thursday.

Thirteen beds in a unit for frail and elderly patients at St Helier Hospital have been closed after significant cracks appeared in the walls, the trust that runs it has said. Its chief executive will take that and other building failures to the Government’s New Hospital Programme on Thursday 5 November.

Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust says problems with its 90-year-old estate are disrupting patient care and putting growing pressure on staff. It has spent £60 million in recent years maintaining its ageing buildings and says significant challenges remain.

What has gone wrong

The trust lists three recent problems:

  • Closed beds: 13 beds shut in the unit for frail and elderly patients, after the cracks appeared.
  • Lifts: repeated failures affecting children’s services.
  • Maternity and neonatal care: essential repairs that have required contingency planning for those services.

The trust has not said in its statement which unit is affected, when the beds will reopen, or whether and when any maternity or neonatal services will move.

Ambulances parked beside the white blocks of St Helier Hospital
Ambulances parked beside St Helier Hospital. Photo: Secretlondon, CC BY-SA 4.0

What the chief executive says

Mat Shaw is group chief executive of St George’s, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals and Health Group, known as gesh, which St Helier is part of. He said:

“Our staff should be preparing to move into a modern new hospital. Instead, they are dealing with cracked walls, failing lifts and contingency plans to move mothers and babies so essential repairs can take place.

“They are doing an extraordinary job, but we cannot keep asking them to overcome the problems created by buildings that are reaching the end of their life.

“We will be making clear to the New Hospital Programme that we urgently need investment to address the risks we face now, alongside progress towards the new hospital our patients and communities need.

“We cannot keep spending millions on temporary repairs while the buildings around our patients and staff continue to deteriorate.”

What the trust wants from Thursday’s meeting

Mr Shaw is asking for two things: money now and a date for the new building. The trust says it will seek clarity on the immediate capital support available for the most serious estate risks, and on the timetable for delivering the new hospital in Sutton.

The trust says it will give an update after the meeting.

The warning comes two days after the same trust said its emergency departments at St Helier and Epsom were seeing a patient arrive every three minutes on average, with winter still to come.

Sources

  • Statement from Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, sent to Sutton Online and embargoed until 4 November 2026.