The health secretary is set to signal a major delay to one of the headline promises in the last Conservative manifesto by suggesting the delivery of 40 new hospitals in England is likely to be pushed back until after 2030.
In a move that will spark anger among MPs who wanted “spades in the ground” before the next election, government sources said Steve Barclay would make the announcement on Thursday.
The pledge to build and fund “40 new hospitals over the next 10 years” was one of the major headlines of Boris Johnson’s pitch to the electorate in 2019.
Sources indicated the government had been ready to make the announcement about the probable delay for some time, but it was repeatedly pushed back because of fears about a backlash from Tory MPs.
Instead, Barclay is expected to commit to prioritising five hospitals where roofs and ceilings are most at risk of sudden collapse because they are made from reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).
The cheaper, lightweight form of concrete was used in the building of many schools and hospitals in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s but is now well past its intended 30-year lifespan.
The risk is so acute that some hospitals have deployed steel stilts to stop ceilings and roofs from falling down. The Queen Elizabeth hospital in King’s Lynn in Norfolk – which is widely used by constituents of the former prime minister Liz Truss – has deployed about 1,500 such supports, for example.
Tory MPs in marginal seats were hoping progress on new or improved hospitals could be pointed to in the run-up to the next election, as evidence of their commitment to the “levelling up” agenda.
But the news is likely to lead to fresh claims that Rishi Sunak’s government has ditched the legacy of his predecessor-but-one.
When Johnson made the claim in 2019 that he would deliver “40 new hospitals”, he was accused of being misleading, as critics said the bulk of the projects involved rebuilding of existing hospitals or consolidation.
The scheme came with a promised spending package of £3.7bn. However, NHS Providers, which represents hospital trusts, said at the time the real cost of building 40 new hospitals would be more like £20bn. Construction costs have soared since 2019, especially as a result of shortages of labour and key materials.
In the aftermath of Covid, Johnson used the policy as evidence of his commitment to “build back better and deliver the biggest hospital building programme in a generation”.
Barclay is expected to make clear in his oral statement to MPs whether those five hospitals will be given five of the eight places in the New Hospitals Programme or if they will be added to it, taking the number of promised “new” facilities to more than the long-promised 40.
Those five had previously applied to NHS England for £332m of extra funding between them to tackle their RAAC problems, New Civil Engineer disclosed last October.
The risk posed by RAAC which has gone past its intended lifespan was highlighted dramatically in 2018 when the flat roof of a primary school in Essex collapsed without warning. No one was injured because it happened at a weekend. But the incident focused attention in the NHS on the danger to patients and staff of the same thing occurring in a hospital.
Barclay is also expected to clarify whether the £3.7bn budget for the hospital renewal programme will be expanded, especially if any or all of the five most beset by RAAC problems are added to it.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We are investing £3.7bn for the first four years of the new hospital programme and remain committed to delivering all 40 new hospitals by 2030 as part of the biggest hospital building programme in a generation. Our new national approach to constructing hospitals will see them built more rapidly and give value for money.
“We remain committed to eradicating reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete from the NHS estate by 2035 and protecting patient and staff safety in the interim period.”
