In response to a report by MPs who probed the government’s New
Hospital Programme (NHP), the director of policy and strategy at
NHS Providers, Miriam Deakin said:
“First the government’s own spending watchdog raised serious
concerns about the progress of the NHP and now MPs have too.
“Ministers must heed warnings that planned hospitals may be too
small for future health and care needs.
“NHS trusts have called long and loud for greater, planned,
long-term capital investment from government to transform their
estates and provide sustainable healthcare. Without it the
NHS cannot improve productivity and ensure safe, high- quality
care in modern facilities.
“Many NHS trusts in the NHP were disappointed to learn that their
building plans won’t become reality before 2030 while many more
were left demoralised to get no funding at all. More than 100
trusts applied to join the NHP, showing the scale of
underinvestment across the NHS estate.
"The wellbeing of patients and staff and ensuring high-quality
care relies upon safe buildings and equipment. But for years
trusts were forced to rob Peter to pay Paul, using funds
earmarked for capital projects to pay for essential day-to-day
work. We are living with the implications of this historic
underinvestment today.
“Too many NHS buildings and facilities are quite simply falling
to bits. Mental health, hospital, community and ambulance
services lack money for critical capital projects needed to give
patients 21st century care in modern settings.
“Thankfully, the NHP will help some trusts to remove substantial,
critical risks from their estate. The MPs rightly highlight the
NHS’s £10billion-plus and growing ‘to-do’ list of repairs, the
cost of trying to patch up creaking infrastructure and
out-of-date facilities. And with more unsafe old RAAC concrete
found on more NHS sites the picture is getting worse.
“Even for those trusts in the NHP, the picture is still
uncertain. They want to know that they will be able to afford to
build facilities of the size and quality that patients, staff and
communities have been promised. The next government Spending
Review will be vital in determining the funding available for
trusts in the NHP.”
