The UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, confirmed on 2nd October that 40 hospitals will be built by 2030 as part of a package worth £3.7 billion, with eight further new schemes invited to bid delivering on the Government’s manifesto commitment.
New standards are to be developed over the next few months to help standardise the design of the new hospitals. Modular construction methods will also be used to speed up the build.
The Health Infrastructure Plan (HIP), will be the biggest hospital building programme in a generation. It was launched in September 2019 with a £2.8 billion investment, which gave six new hospitals the funding to go ahead, alongside seed funding for trusts to work up business cases.
The trusts which received seed funding will now all be fully funded in order to deliver 25 new hospitals, with a new hospital in Shotley Bridge being added to the programme. The new hospital at Shotley Bridge is another signal of the Government’s commitment to rebuilding throughout the North of England, as it drives forward with its levelling up agenda.
Other new schemes will also be invited to bid for funding for eight more new hospitals, with a proportion of these being mental health hospitals.
The long-term investment in these new hospitals will also ensure the NHS can continue to provide world-class care across the country in years to come.
Prime Minister Boris 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 so more people have top-class healthcare services in their local area.”
Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said: “We protected the NHS through the peak of coronavirus. Today we recommit to protect the NHS for years to come with the 40 new hospitals we will build over the next decade.
“I love the NHS and I will do all I can to make sure it is there for you and your family over the years to come. The biggest hospital building programme in a generation will help protect the NHS long into the future.”
Along with this, as announced last year, 20 hospitals will receive a share of £850m to upgrade outdated facilities and equipment, with enabling works already taking place on several sites.
Alongside work to deliver the government’s manifesto commitment on 40 new hospitals, progress is also being made on delivering 50,000 more nurses, with over 14,100 more working in the NHS compared to last year, as well as over 9,200 more doctors.
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