Revealed: the ongoing impact of delays to ‘new hospital’ schemes

Infrastructure failings have led to over 1,000 operations being cancelled in the past two years at just 14 trusts whose rebuilding plans have been placed under review by the new government, HSJ can reveal.

Ceiling leaks, flooding, broken ventilation systems, pest infestations and many other issues have caused the disruption. 

HSJ has tracked cancelled operations caused by infrastructure incidents across trusts in the 40 "new hospitals" programme since 2019, the year the plan was first announced by former health secretary Matt Hancock. The programme has been plagued by delays and rising costs ever since. 

Many schemes remain in limbo five years on and are facing the threat of even more delays after Labour announced it was reviewing the programme and planned to come up with a new "realistic" delivery timetable. Health secretary Wes Streeting has promised to reveal the outcome “in the coming weeks”. 

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Source: HSJ, 1 November 2024