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.
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