Labour gives up plan to replace decrepit NHS hospitals because Wes Streeting ‘can’t figure out how to fund the project’ – leaving patients at risk from crumbling buildings_Nhy
Labour is set to scrap plans to replace decrepit NHS Hospitals leaving patients potentially at risk from crumbling buildings.
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged for 40 new hospitals by the end of the decade, but now the plan looks to be in ruins.
Labour is set to announce that many of the crumbling NHS hospitals in England that were due to be replaced by 2030 will not be completed according to the original timeframe.
The announcement is due to be made next week and is likely to leave many trusts anxious that patients will continue being treated in dangerous environments and in buildings that are unfit for purpose, The Guardian reported.
The decision is likely to lead to criticism from local MPs when a government review of the programme is published.
Health secretary Wes Streeting is set to blame the Conservatives for leaving Labour a huge project that was budgeted only until this March with costs of around £30bn.
In September, Streeting said that 12 of the 40 projects, could go ahead, including seven facing the risk of imminent collapse because they contain Raac concrete.
But he also ordered a review into the cost, viability and timescale of proceeding with 25 others which involve ageing and decrepit hospitals, parts of which are falling apart and increasingly disrupting care for patients.
Wes Streeting is due to announce that many of the crumbling NHS hospitals in England that were due to be replaced by 2030 will not be completed
In their 2019 election manifesto, the Conservatives pledged to deliver 40 new hospitals by 2030 (stock image)
The delays follow detailed scrutiny by the Treasury, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England, which has included scrutiny of the money involved.
The cost will now be spread over a longer period.
Streeting is expected to say redevelopments will happen eventually and will outline revised costs for the programme.
However many of these works are already in advanced stages and are in hospitals which are in desperate need of refurbishment.
In a letter sent in September to every MP in England, Streeting warned that the project was likely to be delayed for many years.
Streeting said: ‘Because we inherited a programme that was unfunded beyond March 2025 and a wider fiscal inheritance that was hugely challenging, we may have to consider rephasing schemes so that they can be taken forward as fiscal conditions allow.
‘A structured and agreed rolling investment approach will mean proceeding with these schemes will be subject to investment decisions at future spending reviews.’
The risks from crumbling hospitals is now so great that some are ‘outright dangerous’, Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, has said.
Keir Starmer, left, and Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, visit the University College London Hospital
Some crumbling hospitals like Stepping Hill in Stockport, are not included in the list of 40 schemes, despite having severe problems.
Last year Epsom and St Helier trust in Surrey had to cancel around 300 eye operations after the ventilation system in the operating theatre failed.
The Princess Alexandra hospital in Harlow, Essex also had 36 operations cancelled and closed two operating theatres for weeks due to air handling units failing, the Health Service Journal reported.
The Liberal Democrats said abandoning the plans to rebuild the 40 hospitals would be ‘completely unacceptable’.
