40 new hospitals confirmed as part of £3.7bn package

Boris Johnson has confirmed that 40 hospitals will be built by 2030 as part of a hospital building programme worth £3.7bn

The prime minister revealed a further eight schemes would be invited to bid as part of the hospital building programme.

New standards will be developed over the coming months to help standardise the design of new hospitals and make use of modular construction methods to speed up the build.

The health infrastructure plan (HIP) is the biggest hospital building programme in a generation. It launched last September with a £2.8bn investment that gave six new hospitals the funding to go ahead, alongside seed funding for trusts to work up business cases.

The trusts that received seed funding will now all be fully funded to deliver 25 new hospitals.

A new hospital in Shotley Bridge is also being added to the programme.

The new Shotley Bridge hospital is a further signal of the government’s commitment to rebuilding across the north of England, as it drives forward with the levelling up agenda.

Other new schemes will be invited to bid for funding for eight more new hospitals – a proportion of these will be mental health hospitals.

‘Biggest hospital building programme in a generation’

Boris Johnson said: “The dedication and tireless efforts of our nurses, doctors and all healthcare workers have kept the NHS open throughout this pandemic.

“But no matter what this virus throws at us, we are determined to build back better and deliver the biggest hospital building programme in a generation.

“From Morpeth to Milton Keynes, we are building 40 new hospitals across England to level up our NHS so more people have top-class healthcare services in their local area.”

Health and social care secretary, Matt Hancock, commented: “We protected the NHS through the peak of coronavirus.

“Today we recommit to protect the NHS for years to come with the 40 new hospitals we will build over the next decade.

“I love the NHS and I will do all I can to make sure it is there for you and your family over the years to come.

“The biggest hospital building programme in a generation will help protect the NHS long into the future.”

Meeting the needs of the NHS

NHS Providers deputy chief executive, Saffron Cordery, added: “We welcome the government’s focus on investing in replacing and refurbishing the NHS estate as, for a growing number of trusts, this has now become an urgent problem.

“Any additional funding to address long-neglected infrastructure and facilities to ensure safe, high-quality care is welcome and a number of trusts have well-developed plans to get this important work underway.

“At a time when there are a wide range of competing claims for investment, it is good to see the government making a firm commitment to meeting the needs of some parts of the NHS over an extended period.

“Given this long term commitment, we look forward to the follow-up work that will be required here.”

List of 40 hospitals