Half of new hospitals promised by Boris Johnson will not be built for years

Queen’s hospital in Romford, where NHS trust leaders are trying to raise £35m to extend its overcrowded A&E unit. Photograph: Andy Hall/The Observer

At least half of the 40 new hospitals pledged by Boris Johnson will not be built for many years, the Guardian has learned, in a move decried as “devastating” for staff and patients.

Labour is to announce that many of the crumbling NHS hospitals in England that were due to be replaced by 2030 will not be completed according to the original timeframe.