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Patient safety in England is being put at risk by Labour’s plans to review a flagship scheme to build or expand 40 hospitals, NHS bosses have warned, after the chancellor announced the programme was under evaluation.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves raised fears among some health leaders that promised funding for vital health infrastructure and renovations could be cut, as she announced the “new hospital programme” was being assessed.
The programme, introduced by the previous Conservative government, promised that 40 hospitals on the NHS’s crumbling estate would either be constructed or expanded by 2030.
Reeves vowed the government would set out a “thorough, realistic and costed timetable” for delivering the programme, given that only one new hospital had been opened to patients since it was launched.
However, health bosses have expressed concerns over the possibility that redevelopment work under the scheme will be stalled as a result of the review.
“On the day the news broke, the fire service were onsite helping us with an emergency structural challenge, and we cancelled urgent and time critical paediatric surgery because in the middle of summer we had no empty beds,” one NHS chief executive, whose hospital is one of those selected by the NHP, told the Financial Times.
“If the public really understood the impact this most recent delay will have, most would be horrified,” they added. “Our maternity, children’s and critical care buildings were out of date 20 years ago. It simply is not possible to provide modern healthcare for them.”
The boss, who spoke under condition of anonymity, said he had “privately given up hope”, adding: “The expectation on us to deliver safe, timely healthcare which is affordable was already virtually impossible”.
Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive at NHS Providers, which represents senior managers at health organisations across England, said that given the significant risks facing hospitals, “any review of the much-delayed new hospital programme must be swift”.
“We cannot afford any further disruption,” she added. “Crumbling buildings, flooding and collapsing ceilings are putting the safety of patients and staff at risk.”
The NHP scheme has been criticised in recent years, with the House of Commons’ public accounts committee warning in November that there was “insufficient funding” for the plans.
The National Audit Office public spending watchdog said in July 2023 that funding cuts, combined with planning and staffing problems, meant only 32 of the 40 hospitals would be completed on time.
Under-investment during the austerity policy era of the 2010s forced NHS trusts to raid capital budgets on an annual basis in order to manage day-to-day spending, according to health leaders.
Another health boss involved in one of the programme’s large rebuild projects said he welcomed the review, given the “importance of it offering value to taxpayers”.
He noted there had long been concerns within government about the programme’s effectiveness and ability to deliver. “But I’m hoping the review can conclude swiftly,” he added, “so that those hospitals in need of redevelopment can have a clarity on funding and timescales.”
One government official said the funding allocated for the programme by the last government “runs out in March”.
They added that the review, expected to conclude by October, will examine how realistic the timeframes are and the order in which hospitals are prioritised.
“The NHP is currently in a shambolic state,” the official said. “Hospital bosses need to be given realistic timetables and certainty over what money will be available to them”.
Another health official said the programme, backed by about £22bn of capital funding, had “always been opaque”.
Labour has inherited an NHS struggling with an accumulated maintenance backlog worth more than £11.6bn, the highest since records began, according to NHS England data.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We must reset the New Hospital Programme to put it on a sustainable footing, following persistent delays and cost overruns.
“We are therefore launching a full review of the programme to provide a thorough, costed and realistic timeline for delivery and to ensure we can replace the crumbling hospital estate in England.”
The Conservative party was contacted for comment.