Secretary of state for health and social care, Wes Streeting, announced an updated timetable for the New Hospitals Programme yesterday
The updated New Hospitals Programme timetable aims to be more realistic and reduce the costs of delivery for the projects.
Original funding for the programme was due to run out in March 2025, according to Mr Streeting’s statement.
The updated New Hospitals Programme timetable pushes back the 2030 target
Boris Johnson delivered the original promise in 2019, stating that 40 new hospitals would be constructed by 2030.
Now it has been shown that the pledge was somewhat misleading, as they included refurbishments or extensions in the list, rather than being entirely new hospitals altogether.
HM Treasury will now invest in five-year waves, increasing up to £15bn over each wave, averaging £3bn per year from 2030 onwards.
While none of the projects have been cancelled, the new schedule has dramatically changed delivery dates for many. The seven hospitals constructed using reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) remain the priority in the programme, and will be addressed first with the highest risk elements being tackled first.
The targeted dates of completion for each project now depend on each five year investment wave which will also see spending reviews. Each review will determine where the investment goes. New schemes may take more than one period to reach completion.
Current estimates of project start dates show that Poole Hospital in Dorset, Derriford Emergency Care Hospital in Plymouth, and Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital are all expected to begin construction either this year or next year.
The rest of the expected start dates are as follows:
2026-2027
- Shotley Bridge Community Hospital, Durham
- Brighton 3Ts Hospital
2027-2028
- Milton Keynes Hospital
- Women and Children’s Hospital, Cornwall
- Hillingdon Hospital, north-west London
- North Manchester General Hospital
- West Suffolk Hospital, Bury St Edmunds (RAAC project)
- Hinchingbrooke Hospital (RAAC project)
- James Paget Hospital, Great Yarmouth (RAAC project)
- Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King’s Lynn (RAAC project)
- Leighton Hospital (RAAC project)
- Airedale General Hospital (RAAC project)
2028-2029
- Frimley Park Hospital (RAAC project)
2032-2034
- Leeds General Infirmary
- Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, Sutton
- Whipps Cross University Hospital, north-east London
- Princess Alexandra Hospital, Harlow
- Watford General Hospital
- Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester General Hospital and Glenfield Hospital
- Kettering General Hospital
- Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton
- Torbay Hospital
2035-2038
- Charing Cross Hospital and Hammersmith Hospital, London
- North Devon District Hospital, Barnstaple
- Royal Lancaster Infirmary
- St Mary’s Hospital, north-west London
2037-2039
- Royal Preston Hospital
- Queen’s Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital
- Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading
- Hampshire Hospitals
- Eastbourne District General, Conquest Hospital and Bexhill Community Hospital
Streeting blames the previous government again for poor finances
In his statement, Wes Streeting said: “I was shocked by what I found on entering the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). The programme was hugely delayed, by several years more than had already been revealed by the National Audit Office. Most shocking of all, the funding for the programme was due to run out in March of this year, with no provision for future years whatsoever. The money simply was not there. The programme was built on the shaky foundation of false hope and without the confirmed funding these building projects could not be delivered, let alone delivering them all in the next 5 years.
“If I was shocked by the state of this programme, patients ought to be furious. Not only because the promises made to them were never going to be kept. They also desperately need new buildings and new hospitals.”
In 2023, a programme worth £20m was introduced intending to rebuild seven hospitals that had been constructed using RAAC, prioritising the buildings under the full New Hospitals Programme. The original intent was for three hospitals to be built in the East of England by 2030 as well as RAAC-plagued hospitals receiving remedial works. The new timetable will see these projects prioritised for work.
