Boris Johnson promised 40 new hospitals by 2030; it now transpires that roughly half of them will not even have started by then.
Health secretary Wes Streeting has produced a new timetable for the New Hospital Programme. He promises that they will all be built. Eventually, but it is going to take rather longer than the Conservatives had said.
“The New Hospital Programme we inherited was unfunded and undeliverable,” Streeting said. “Not a single new hospital was built in the past five years, and there was no credible funding plan to build 40 in the next five years.”
He added: “When I walked into the Department of Health & Social Care, I was told that the funding for the New Hospitals Programme runs out in March. We were determined to put the programme on a firm footing, so we can build the new hospitals our NHS needs.
“Today we are setting out an honest, funded, and deliverable programme to rebuild our NHS.”
The seven schemes already under construction (Wave 0) will continues as planned. A further 16 (Wave 1) will start between 2025 and 2029.
The nine hospitals in Wave 2 will start construction between 2030 and 2035, while the nine in wave three will have to wait until 2035-39 before they will even start.
Morag Stuart, chief programme officer for the New Hospital Programme, said: “This announcement by the Department of Health and Social Care provides certainty on the next steps for the New Hospital Programme.
“We will continue to work with local NHS organisations to deliver improvements to hospitals across England, including making best use of new technology and improving layouts – and ensuring future hospitals are designed to meet the needs of patients and staff.”
