PM sets outs funding for 40 new hospitals he promised in election
BORIS JOHNSON has announced funding for new NHS hospitals – an issue that caused huge controversy during last year’s election campaign.
In September 2019, the Prime Minister told newspapers he planned to build 40 new hospitals across England over the next decade.
He later clarified that initially £ 2.7 billion would be made available for six trusts to start building work immediately and “seed funding” for a further 34 hospitals would be “forthcoming” to help them start developing projects.
Yesterday Mr Johnson confirmed funding for 40 new hospitals across England, with a further eight schemes invited to bid for future funding.
Among the projects is a scheme to centralise children’s and adult services at Leeds General Infirmary with pathology services at
St James University Hospital. In some cases, new hospitals will be built on fresh sites, the Department of Health said, but in other cases a new hospital will be built on an existing site to replace existing facilities.
One of the hospitals on the list – the Royal Liverpool – was supposed to have been completed in 2017 under the controversial Private Finance Initiative but the project suffered a series of delays and other setbacks, including the collapse of the original developer, Carillion.
The Government said the package was worth £ 3.7 billion, with trusts that received seed funding now all fully funded to deliver 25 hospitals.
Mr Johnson said: “The dedication and tireless efforts of our nurses, doctors and all healthcare workers have kept the NHS open throughout this pandemic.
“But no matter what this virus throws at us we are determined to build back better and deliver the biggest hospital- building programme in a generation. From Morpeth to Milton Keynes, we are building 40 new hospitals across England to level up our NHS.”
Dame Donna Kinnair, chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said: “Whether hospitals are rebuilt or wholly new, they will struggle to provide safe patient care without enough nurses.”