NHS trusts across England have benefitted from a £600 million boost to help tackle maintenance work.

In December, the Government announced the scheme to help trusts complete maintenance projects – with County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust awarded £1 million towards two projects; and South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust awarded £1.1 million towards eight projects.

Across England, £9 billion should have been spent on eradicating the backlog of maintenance work required across all NHS trusts.

Of that, more than £1.5 billion was due for the most urgent repairs.

Overall, it cost £9.7 billion to run the entire NHS estate in the last financial year, figures from NHS Digital show.

A spokesperson for County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, said, “Each year, like organisations across the NHS, we submit data on our estates maintenance and this year’s position is an improvement on the previous year’s. We’re committed to ensuring our buildings and equipment are replaced, maintained and fit for purpose. We achieve this through a robust rolling programme.

"This programme has included an investment of over £118 million over the last five years, on projects across all our sites, such as building nine new surgical theatres at Darlington Memorial Hospital at a cost of over £30 million.

"In addition, we also ensure that our patients benefit from the latest technology and innovation and we’re investing over £40 million in the latest radiology facilities and equipment, which can play a vital role in diagnosing and treating a wide range of conditions, including cancer.”

As part of the South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Friarage Hospital in Northallerton is to benefit from a £1million investment to kick-start the development of a new diagnostic hub and remove disused buildings on the site which were built more than 70 years ago.

The new diagnostic hub will provide state-of-the-art facilities for patients undergoing urology and endoscopy procedures.

The hub will be located on hospital’s former ward 15 and the investment is the first phase of a £5million scheme.

A spokesman said: "The redundant buildings were built during the Second World War and, as well as reducing maintenance, heating and other costs which can be recycled into frontline patient services, their removal will clear the way for more developments at the hospital in the future.

"These include plans to replace the Friarage’s aging theatre block with new modern operating theatres. Plans for the new theatre block are currently being developed and will go through regional and national business case development, assurance and approval processes before given the go-ahead."