Almost half of 40 hospitals promised by Conservatives delayed, says health secretary

Almost half of the 40 hospitals promised by the previous Conservative government have been delayed, the health secretary has said.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Wes Streeting said 18 of the projects will now be started between 2030 and 2039, instead of by the original 2030 deadline.

Mr Streeting launched a scathing attack on the Conservative Party for making the promise to build the facilities without a clear funding plan.

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He said the new plans would “give patients an honest, realistic, deliverable timetable that they can believe in”.

Mr Streeting added: “This Labour government is rebuilding our NHS and as we do so, we will also rebuild trust in politics.”

He claimed funding for the 40 projects was due to run out by March this year.

The promise to build 40 new hospitals by 2030 was originally promised by Boris Johnson in the 2019 election campaign.

There have long been questions about the feasibility of the projects – including on cost grounds, the suitability of plans for new hospitals, and whether each project actually included a new hospital or rather an improvement to previous facilities.

Some £20bn in funding promised by the last government was “never delivered”, according to a government announcement today.

The new timetable will be backed by £15bn over consecutive five-year waves – which the government says works out to £3bn a year.

Speaking in the Commons, Mr Streeting said hospitals already with full business cases or already under construction will continue on their current timetable.

He then set out a new timetable for the rest of the scheme.

Wave one – which includes hospitals made primarily of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) – will be started between now and 2030.

A second wave of nine projects will be started between 2030 and 2035, with a third wave of a further nine being started between 2035 and 2039.

The details of which hospital is in which wave can be found on the government website.

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Mr Streeting said: “The New Hospital Programme we inherited was unfunded and undeliverable. Not a single new hospital was built in the past five years, and there was no credible funding plan to build forty in the next five years.

“When I walked into the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), I was told that the funding for the New Hospital 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.”

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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.”