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A flagship government programme to build or expand 40 hospitals in England has been delayed by at least a decade.
UK health secretary Wes Streeting announced on Monday that work on several hospitals could start as late as 2039, in a blow to health leaders grappling with a crumbling system.
The New Hospital Programme, first announced by former Conservative prime minister Boris Johnson, aimed to build or expand 40 hospitals by 2030, backed by about £22bn of capital funding.
When it took office in July, Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government announced it would review the scheme, which was already suffering delays due to a lack of funding.
Setting out the new timetable on Monday, Streeting told MPs the building work would take place in four “waves” and that nine schemes under the programme would not start construction until between 2035 and 2039. He did not set a deadline for when the entire scheme would be delivered.
He said his department would “put the programme on a firm footing with sustainable funding so all the projects can be delivered”.
NHS bosses had previously warned that patient safety was being put at risk by ministers after the chancellor announced the programme was under evaluation.
Seven hospitals in the programme, constructed almost entirely from potentially dangerous reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, also known as Raac, were not considered under the scope of the review.
Streeting told MPs on Monday that hospitals already under construction were not part of the review and that building works had continued.
He said the delayed timetable was “honest”, adding: “I know patients in some parts of the country will be disappointed by this new timetable. They are right to be.”
The health secretary said patients had been “led up the garden path by three Conservative prime ministers, all promising hospitals with no credible plan for funding to deliver them”.
The programme has been criticised in recent years, with the House of Commons’ public accounts committee warning that the plans were backed with “insufficient funding”.
In July 2023, the National Audit Office, the public spending watchdog, said planning problems and funding cuts meant only 32 of the 40 hospitals were due to be completed on schedule.
A landmark report into the state of the NHS last month found England had spent almost £37bn less than peer countries on health assets and infrastructure since the 2010s, forcing the health service to raid capital budgets in order to manage day-to-day spending.
This capital investment shortfall had left the service with crumbling buildings and led to a maintenance backlog of £13.8bn, it found.
Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents health organisations across England, said the delay “will come as a major blow to trusts, their staff, patients and communities, many of whom now face even longer delays getting desperately needed new hospitals”.
She added: “Hospital rebuilds are vital to transforming services, improving safety, and delivering better quality of care for patients after years of under-investment in the bricks and mortar of the NHS.”
