MILLIONS of pounds of repair work needs to be done to Devon's NHS buildings.

Department of Health figures show more than £2m of maintenance work is needed to property owned by Devon Primary Care Trust, the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital and Devon Partnership Trust.

DPCT had an outstanding maintenance bill of £1,223,722, including £48,500 of repairs deemed to be "high risk" and needed to prevent catastrophic failure, major disruption to clinical services, or deficiencies that pose a threat of serious injury or prosecution.

It needs to spend a further £175,000 on repairs considered to pose a "significant risk", which includes work that may pose a risk of injury or prosecution if not dealt with.

Another £169,000 needs to be spent on work which poses a "moderate risk", and £831,222 needs to be spent on "low risk" repairs.

Pat McDonagh, assistant director for special projects at DPCT, said: "The £1,223,722 relates to a five-year plan of ongoing maintenance at the PCT's community hospitals."

This included replacing old buildings, such as the Newton Abbot Hospital and the former DPCT headquarters at Dean Clarke House, with modern buildings.

The RD&E had a maintenance backlog of £1,020,000 in 2007-08, including £25,000 of repairs considered "high risk", £25,000 of "significant risk", £350,000 posing "moderate risk", and £620,000 considered of "low risk".

But RD&E director of finance Suzanne Tracey said: "In order to plan and prioritise future spending and capital developments, we identify financial risks or works which will need to be done to ensure that the NHS estate is maintained properly.

"During 2007-08, the trust spent around £286m and our risks for maintenance works were assessed at just over £1m. None of these works compromise the health and safety of our patients, staff or visitors.

"The £25,000 work in the high risk category was removed on completion last summer of creating more parking provision for disabled visitors. It was identified as a risk until the trust was fully compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act.

"The significant risk refers to sealed and managed asbestos present in some of our buildings which would require specialist removal and disposal if those buildings were altered.

"The moderate and low risk category works can range from resurfacing of roads to improvements to older parts of the hospital."

Devon Partnership Trust, which operates mental health services, has £40,000 or repairs classed as "significant risk", £628,000 of "moderate risk", and £1,338,500 of "low risk" maintenance.

Ralph Hayward, director planning and contracts at DPT said: "Our main priority is to ensure patient safety and this risk-based process enables us to prioritise the work required in a planned and timely way."

Exeter MP and Health Minister Ben Bradshaw said: "Work relating to health and safety matters is treated as high risk and remedied as a priority by NHS organisations.

"However, the bulk of the maintenance work is considered low or moderate risk and is not essential to operational safety issues."