NHS bosses in London have reacted furiously after the Government confirmed that building the 40 new hospitals promised by the Tories would take at least a decade longer than planned.
Wes Streeting accused the Conservatives of failing to fund their government’s 2019 promise of providing the new facilities by 2030, saying the pledge had been “built on the shaky foundation of false hope”.
Setting out a new timetable, Mr Streeting said construction of the new hospitals would proceed in four “waves”, with the final part not beginning until between 2035 and 2039.
Construction on Hillingdon hospital will begin between 2027 and 2028, while work on Whipps Cross will not begin until 2032-2034.
Work on Charing Cross Hospital, St Mary’s Hospital and Hammersmith Hospital will not take place until 2035-2038.
Professor Tim Orchard, chief executive of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, which runs all three hospitals, said: “This is devastating news for our communities, our staff and patients, and for the whole of the capital’s healthcare system.
“We understand that the Government’s New Hospital Programme must be affordable but the simple truth is that St Mary’s Hospital, in particular, will not last until the 2040s.
“We run London’s busiest major trauma centre and care for more than a million patients a year. We need to digest the detail of today’s announcement, but we have to find a way to progress our schemes more quickly.
“This includes exploring alternative funding approaches, leveraging the value of our land that will be surplus to requirements and the significant contribution of our life science partnerships to local and national economic growth.”
The first wave of hospitals is already under construction, and set to be completed in the next three years.
The plan includes rebuilding the seven hospitals affected by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac), with construction work beginning over the next five years.
Mr Streeting said the new timetable was “honest, funded and can actually be delivered”.
He added: “It is a serious, credible plan to build the hospitals our NHS needs.”
Promising that all the new units would be delivered, Mr Streeting said he had secured investment averaging £3 billion a year, which he described as part of the largest capital investment in the NHS since the previous Labour government.
He also announced a new framework for contracting out construction of the new hospitals, saying this would ensure the new facilities were delivered “as quickly as possible”.
The announcement follows a review of the Conservatives’ £20 billion New Hospitals Programme, which Mr Streeting launched shortly after taking office in July, claiming the previous government’s plans were undeliverable and had not been properly funded.
The Liberal Democrats accused the Government of trying to “bury bad news” on the day of Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president.
Helen Morgan, the party’s health spokesperson, said: “Instead of ducking scrutiny, the Health Secretary needs to publish the full impact assessment of these delays.
“Patients have a right to know just how at risk they are, and how many more delays they will have to suffer as a result of the Government’s decision.”
