National Audit Office: Update on the New Hospital Programme (16 January 2026)

Summary

The NHS has around 1,500 hospitals in England, of which around 210 provide emergency care. Where hospitals are older or in deteriorating condition, there may be significant risks to patient and staff safety and high maintenance costs.

In 2020, following years of under-investment, the Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC) committed to build 40 new hospitals by 2030 through the New Hospital Programme (NHP). Hospitals in the programme will be built to a standard design with the aims of increasing cost-effectiveness and quality, and utilising the construction industry in a more coordinated way.

Hospital construction had previously been funded centrally but designed and delivered locally by NHS trusts. The NHP is a joint endeavour between DHSC and NHS England (NHSE) to coordinate schemes centrally instead. DHSC has overall responsibility for the NHP and NHSE is responsible for its delivery.

Following the July 2024 general election, the new government carried out an internal review of the NHP and announced a new implementation plan in January 2025.

Content

This report provides an update on progress on our 2023 report and whether the programme is now deliverable under the new plan, it:

• sets out the history of the programme, the new implementation plan announced in January 2025 and what the programme aims to achieve
• examines the progress that has been made towards building new hospitals
• examines how DHSC is managing risks to delivery, including the extent that the new plan addresses issues raised in our 2023 report and by the Public Accounts Committee.