The health secretary has admitted that the government’s promised 40 new hospitals actually include “a range” of building works.
Steve Barclay came under pressure to clarify the manifesto pledge – made under former prime minister Boris Johnson – to build the “new” hospitals by 2030. He said that some of the plans include “a hospital being gutted and fully refurbished”, with the overall promise including “a range of things”.
The project has been dogged by criticism that most of the schemes are refurbishments, rather than new buildings. It has also faced repeated criticism that it is unachievable.
NHS guidance suggests that a “new hospital” can range from an entirely new building on a new site to a refurbishment or alteration of existing buildings.
Mr Barclay’s admission came as he was interviewed by the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg. Urging the health secretary to “be straight” with the public, she said: “If you save up and get a new conservatory on the back of your house, you don’t have a new house.
“Can you be honest with people [and admit that] you are not building 40 brand new hospitals?” Mr Barclay replied: “Well, some of the schemes include a hospital being gutted and fully refurbished.”
Labour MP Karl Turner said Mr Barclay had been “dragged kicking and screaming” into admitting the manifesto pledge was “always a lie”.
“That is not what the electorate were promised in the 2019 Conservative manifesto. It’s time this out-of-touch multimillionaire Tory government started concentrating on what they promised the British public instead of scrapping with one another like rats in a sack,” Mr Turner said.
It came days after the health secretary revealed that there had been a change to which hospitals would be included in the programme, as he insisted that Rishi Sunak’s government remains committed to the pledge.
Mr Barclay also conceded that building work at several of the original group of 40 hospitals may not be completed by 2030.
Instead, some hospitals at risk of collapse and in need of an urgent upgrade will now be added to the programme, amid concern about the use of RAAC (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete) within structures.
It means that some of the original hospitals earmarked for inclusion in the programme will see work commence – but Mr Barclay acknowledged that “not all work” on those sites will be completed by the end of the decade.
Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said Mr Barclay should “come clean” and be “upfront about the fact that whatever promises the former prime minister made in 2019 ... the pledge to build 40 new hospitals by 2030 is simply not going to happen”.
Mr Streeting has repeatedly claimed that the “only place the promised ‘40 new hospitals’ exist is in Boris Johnson’s imagination”.
