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7 hours ago
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Boris Johnson’s 2019 pledge to build 40 new NHS hospitals by 2030 across England “appears to be unachievable”, government advisers have told Labour ministers.
The warning from the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) comes as Wes Streeting prepares to tell MPs how the government plans to proceed with 25 of the 40 rebuilds which have been paused.
The health secretary is expected to make a Commons statement, possibly as soon as Monday, in which he will set out a revised timetable for the projects.
In its most recent annual report, published last Thursday, the IPA gave a gloomy verdict on the Department of Health and Social Care’s new hospital programme (NHP). It classified delivery of the project as “red” – its highest risk rating – and cited an array of problems including how much it will cost to make the promised new facilities a reality. Costs have spiralled from £20bn to an estimated £30bn.
“Successful delivery of the project appears to be unachievable,” it said.
“There are major issues with project definition, schedule, budget, quality and/or benefits delivery, which at this stage do not appear to be manageable or resolvable. The project may need re-scoping and/or its overall viability reassessed.”
It is the first time the IPA has rated the NHP as “red” on its five-level risk assessment scale. It deemed it as “amber/red”, its second highest rating, in 2020/21 but “amber” – one level below – in 2021/22, and then did not give it a rating in 2022/23.
Streeting has been analysing what to do about then prime minister Johnson’s promise to build 40 new hospitals, which has been plagued by delays, cost overruns and claims that some of the “new hospitals” involve only refurbishment rather than a brand new facility.
The rebuilds are needed to replace facilities that are in such an advanced state of disrepair that floods, fires and lack of space are severely disrupting the care provided.
In September, Streeting wrote to every MP in England to brace them for bad news about the NHP. A review of 25 NHP schemes would help him give “a thorough, costed and realistic timeframe for delivery”, the results of which he will outline in his statement.
In his letter, he said the precarious state of public finances and the previous Conservative government’s failure to fund the programme beyond this March meant ministers “may have to consider re-phasing schemes so that they can be taken forward as fiscal conditions allow”.
But in remarks that aroused fears that some rebuilds may not happen for years, and be subject to decisions by future administrations, he added that “proceeding with these schemes will be subject to investment decisions at future spending reviews”.
MPs whose constituents use hospitals where urgently needed rebuilding is delayed as a result of Streeting’s update are likely to complain that those places cannot afford to wait any longer.
Helen Morgan, the Liberal Democrat health and social care spokesperson, said the NHP “is yet another shocking indictment of the Conservative party’s neglect of our NHS”.
But it is “also a damaging example of the new government’s lack of ambition when it comes to rescuing a health service in dire crisis”.
Morgan claimed that any “attempt to bury this bad news” would demonstrate “an outrageous disregard for patients”, if Streeting makes his statement on Monday when media attention will be focused on Donald Trump’s inauguration.
A senior executive at one of the 25 trusts said: “We are on tenterhooks. We don’t even know what the NHP is recommending, never mind what ministers think.
“There’s a lot of anger around the NHS at the thought of any further delay or even cancellation of schemes.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said the NHP they inherited was “undeliverable, with the funding due to run out in March. We are committed to rebuilding our NHS and that includes every project in the new hospital programme. We are working up a timeline that is affordable, honest and can actually be delivered.”
