The health secretary has ordered officials to review the £20bn programme to build 40 hospitals by 2030 and raised doubts over its delivery timeline.
Wes Streeting (pictured centre) told the House of Commons yesterday (23 July) that he had asked officials “as a matter of urgency” to report on the New Hospital Programme’s (NHP) funding and timetable, adding that it was “painfully clear” that the major rebuilding programme would not be deliverable by the previously pledged 2030 deadline.
He said: “I want to see the New Hospital Programme completed, but I am not prepared to offer people false hope about how soon they will benefit from the facilities they deserve.”
The review comes amid growing concerns about the £20bn Boris Johnson-era construction programme, which Labour committed to delivering in its election manifesto.
Senior staff at multiple hospitals within the programme earmarked for completion by 2030, including a £1bn hospital in east London, have recently admitted the target will be missed.
Shortly after the Commons statement, a health leader told Construction News that individual trusts had still not heard how much funding they would get, thereby delaying construction work.
Johnson first pledged to build 40 new hospitals in his 2019 election manifesto, announcing it officially with £4bn of funding in October 2020. The Conservative government admitted in May 2023 that eight of the hospitals originally pledged would not be built by 2030, while upping the funding to £20bn and adding five more hospitals into the programme that featured life-expired RAAC in their structures.
A National Audit Office report last July cast major doubt on the government’s intended timeframe, questioning how many contractors would be willing to bid for some of the larger schemes within the programme.
Concerns about the pace of building were repeated in the House of Commons yesterday. Labour MP Cat Smith said her local hospital, Royal Lancaster Infirmary, which is due to be replaced under the NHP, was “at capacity” and “not fit for purpose”. Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat MP Daisy Cooper said NHS trusts were “champing at the bit to get going but cannot, and are being held back”.
Streeting repeatedly blamed the Conservative government for uncertainty over the programme, saying shadow health secretary Victoria Atkins knew “exactly the degree to which this timetable and the funding were not as set out by the previous government”.
When asked for comment, a Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said Streeting’s remarks in the House of Commons reflected the government’s position.
