The New Hospital Programme, worth £56bn, includes the remediation of several hospitals of their RAAC concrete, but now it looks that some will miss their 2030 deadline
According to a report from the National Audit Office (NAO), RAAC hospital remediation projects are set to overrun by two-to-three years.
Despite this, the NAO report also says that the programme is on a firmer footing under the current government, and final hospitals are expected to be completed in the 2045-46 period.
The government must strike while the iron is hot
The report highlights that the reset of the programme has improved certainty for contractors, but that with schedules and lack of alternatives, the next five years must have little-to-no mistakes or cost rises.
Tight schedules are what put the deadlines for RAAC hospitals back already.
Interest from contractors has been high as 20 contractors and 16 firms are shortlisted to join the programme, including Bam, McLaren, and Morgan Sindall.
Andy Morrison, who directed the report, said: “The programme to upgrade and build new hospitals is now on a more realistic timetable. The final hospitals to be completed will be in 2046.
“However, despite being priorities, hospitals built with Reinforced Aerated Autoclaved Concrete (RAAC) are now not expected to be replaced until 2032-33.
“Standardised hospital designs plan to have single rooms and be digitally enabled, offering potential savings and a stronger market for contractors. But these benefits depend on robust programme oversight.
“Staff will also need to buy-in to operational changes for hospitals to achieve efficiencies and improvements in patient care.”
The full report can be read here.
The original programme had an overall target of 2030
Originally laid out by Boris Johnson in 2019, the programme promised to build 40 new hospitals by 2030. However, it came to light last year that this was not the case, as this included refurbishments or extensions to existing hospitals, rather than brand new ones.
It was also shown that funding for the programme as it originally stood would have run out in March 2025.
The new method for the programme has HM Treasury investing in hospital works in five-year waves, with each wave increasing by £15bn to an average of £3bn per year from 2030.
The finish date for the project as a whole is now also more than 10 years above the original pledge.
Secretary of state for health and social care, 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.”
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