NHS Confederation responds to government announcement on delays to the New Hospital Programme

Responding to the government announcement that some New Hospital Programme projects will not be delivered by 2030, Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said:

“It will be a disappointing blow to NHS leaders, staff and patients across the country that some of these vital hospital building projects have been delayed. But we welcome this clarity from government that all the existing projects will continue and the revised timetable looks more realistic.

“While we understand the delays given the ongoing pressures on the public finances, we are concerned that the delays may lead to costs rising and some of these projects being even more expensive. That will need to be managed carefully.

“But we should be under no illusion that the scale of the capital challenges facing the NHS - laid bare in Lord Darzi’s investigation published in September - means that the New Hospital Programme could never have provided the solution on its own nor was it the ideal solution. Experience has shown that the NHP is not the best way to distribute scarce capital investment, which can be more efficiently managed by local leaders.

“More generally, the NHS continues to suffer from not having the level of capital investment it needs. The majority of NHS leaders have stressed that a lack of capital is limiting their ability to tackle backlogs and boost productivity. The extra capital funding pledged in October’s Budget was a very welcome first step to addressing these long-term issues. Now ahead of the Spending Review, NHS leaders hope the government will consider the bigger picture on capital, and particularly how changes to the way capital funding is allocated could ensure more efficient and effective spending to support its three shifts for the NHS.”