Labour to review Tories’ ‘unfunded’ New Hospitals Programme

Health secretary Wes Streeting said the previous government’s pledge to build 40 new hospitals by 2030 was based on an “entirely fictional timetable”.

Labour has said it will review the £40bn programme, insisting that the delivery of an updated NHS estate is high up on its list of priorities.

While a review will push back an already delayed programme, Streeting’s insistence that he wants “to see the new hospital programme completed” will comfort those who have been working on bids for funding from the programme over recent years.

In the North West, a replacement for Stepping Hill in Stockport town centre, plus new hospitals in Leighton, Warrington, and North Manchester are all at various stages of development and reliant on government support.

Speaking in the House of Commons earlier this week, Cat Smith, MP for Lancaster, asked if the government would commit to delivering a new hospital for the city.

Streeting said he would consider the proposal “carefully”, adding that Labour’s approach would not offer “false hope” to local communities.

“We will not play fast and loose with the public finances, nor will we play fast and loose with people’s trust as the previous Government did,” he said.

Streeting added that hospitals riddled with RAAC would be at the top of the waiting list for work and expressed his “serious concern” for the state of the NHS estate.

Caroline Johnson, the shadow parliamentary under-secretary of state for health and social care, said Labour’s planned review of the New Hospitals Programme would delay 18 projects under construction.

In response, Streeting accused the Conservatives of handing over “an entirely fictional timetable and an unfunded programme”.