The New Hospitals We Need...

Tell me you didn't believe in Boris Johnson's 40 new hospitals!

Yes, work on only 16 of them will commence in the next 5 years.

There is to be 4 waves of building.

The seven rebuilds in “wave zero”, which are already well advanced, would be completed by 2028, Streeting said.

Wave one projects will begin between 2025 and 2030 and will comprise seven hospitals built with Raac concrete, which has become dangerously unstable, and nine other projects where a new facility is desperately needed.

Construction will start on nine wave two schemes including the Sutton facility in 2030-2035, and work on the final eight is due to start during 2035-39.

The cost of delivering the new hospitals has shot up to £48.7bn from the £20bn price the then health secretary, Steve Barclay, put on the work in just May 2023. The Tories only spent £3.7bn on the programme

Labour will put £15bn into each of the three future waves, comprising an average of £3bn a year for the 15 years between 2025 and 2039, to make the schemes a reality.

Where we lived in NE London, we were due to get a new hospital (Barts Trust) in 2026. Then it was 2030. Now today Wes Streeting has said it won't even start to be built until 2032 or 2034.

The added problem is that the new design will now be too small for the intended purposes, and that the end- of- life care unit might no longer be included. It really concerns me that any government would not give additional funding for this very important service to be included within an NHS hospital.

A lot of things concern me, far from ideal, but where is the money to come from.

Ilovecheese

Tell me you didn't believe in Boris Johnson's 40 new hospitals!

No, I didn't believe in Boris's 40 new hospitals.
I can't think why.

I think the way forward is to reform the system. Increase investment in primary care, community health hubs for diagnostics etc, and care in people's own homes.

Hospitals are expensive to run and we need fewer, but better, of them.

A&E depts need to be saved for exactly that: Accident and emergencies, and not for people who can't get GP appointments.

Wyllow3

A lot of things concern me, far from ideal, but where is the money to come from.

The funding for the complete rebuild of WhippsX had already been secured under the last government. Work had already begun, starting with the car park. The money was there for this particular hospital, but many others weren't so lucky.
Labour promised that the building programme was safe in the election. Unsurprisingly, once in government Labour’s first action was to pause the rebuild.
I know this for a fact because Iain Duncan Smith was our MP, re elected in 2024, and an acquaintance of DH.

Given that there was no earmarked funding identified by the last government, I don’t think there was much choice but to review all the priority schemes. Approval was given in September for 21 schemes to proceed, including some with the reinforced concrete which has to be replaced. Funding has been earmarked for those schemes, and it’s a big step forward that it’s actually happening at last. Of course in an ideal world every hospital that needs replacing would be done quickly, but we have to be realistic, with a huge backlog and no magic wands.

keepingquiet

I think the way forward is to reform the system. Increase investment in primary care, community health hubs for diagnostics etc, and care in people's own homes.

Hospitals are expensive to run and we need fewer, but better, of them.

A&E depts need to be saved for exactly that: Accident and emergencies, and not for people who can't get GP appointments.

I agree totally, particularly with community hubs, open extended hours and 7 days a week, staffing may be an issue though.

Staff training and recruitment is absolutely vital I agree. Shame Brexit meant so many health care workers went home- but we need incentivces to get our own young people interested in health careers instead of becoming hairdressers, nail technicians and warehouse workers.

We have a brand new hospital here in Birmingham - The Midland Metropolitan University Hospital. It's chaos. They haven't got enough staff.

Well,if you live in Kettering or Harlow, you’re not going to get one.
End of.

RosiesMaw2

Well,if you live in Kettering or Harlow, you’re not going to get one.
End of.

My local hospital is supposed to be Harlow. Plans for a new hospital started at least ten years ago. It's a good job I can choose to go elsewhere.

I think Harlow is on the same timescale as Whipps. 2034 to start. I think they are both costing £1.5 billion.
DGC was born in Harlow. The maternity was a godforsaken place then, 15 years ago.
We had a private hospital on our doorstep, and on a smaller scale it had a £25million refurbishment in Olympic year. A couple of big football clubs, Spurs being one who trained locally, donated money and use the facilities.
When money is made available, things can be done fast.

we have a huge expansion to our existing old hospital, almost a new hospital here in Brighton.. it is very smart.. I think they have enough staff though it is incredibly busy..

You can build hospitals but where are the staff coming from to run them?

Even something temporary such as prefab buildings would surely help. At least ambulances would be able to unload patients instead of queuing outside hospitals.
My local surgery put up a small pre fab during the Covid vaccination programme...it's still in use.

Sarnia

You can build hospitals but where are the staff coming from to run them?

Spot on Sarnia. Working in a clinical role for the NHS is not an attractive option for most people.

There are thousands of unfilled vacancies. It seems that we cannot staff the existing hospitals adequately.

The hospitals with RAAC have to be prioritised, because they have serious structural flaws. 21 schemes are going ahead, and will actually happen during the life of this parliament, which will be a refreshing change. Some capital funding is available at local level as part of the annual allocation, and can be used to make temporary improvements to the estate. It’s not ideal, but with such a huge backlog maintenance problem, as well as a need for hospital replacements, it’s Hobson’s choice.

Indigo8

Sarnia

You can build hospitals but where are the staff coming from to run them?

Spot on Sarnia. Working in a clinical role for the NHS is not an attractive option for most people.

There are thousands of unfilled vacancies. It seems that we cannot staff the existing hospitals adequately.

Are these hospitals not replacements for existing sites?

mum2three

Even something temporary such as prefab buildings would surely help. At least ambulances would be able to unload patients instead of queuing outside hospitals.
My local surgery put up a small pre fab during the Covid vaccination programme...it's still in use.

Yes this happens already. Just checked. (As well as having been in one attached to a hospital)
There are prefab companies offering specialist pre-fabs for medical purposes.

Casdon

Indigo8

Sarnia

You can build hospitals but where are the staff coming from to run them?

Spot on Sarnia. Working in a clinical role for the NHS is not an attractive option for most people.

There are thousands of unfilled vacancies. It seems that we cannot staff the existing hospitals adequately.

Are these hospitals not replacements for existing sites?

Yes.
Whipps certainly is. And Harlow.
Whipps employs over 15,000 staff.
It's just not fit for purpose.

By the way, Whipps is actually Wes Streeting's local hospital, if he uses the NHS.

The hospitals they have built, are not big enough. Not in my area and they closed perfectly good hospitals down. They could have modernised some of them.