The Tories have admitted that eight new hospitals promised by Boris Johnson will be delayed after a decision was taken to prioritise crumbling buildings.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay admitted that some of the original facilities will not be completed by the end of the decade as focus is shifting to five hospitals deemed "not safe to operate beyond 2030".
The five hospitals - Airedale in West Yorkshire, Queen Elizabeth King’s Lynn in Norfolk, Hinchingbrooke in Cambridgeshire, Mid Cheshire Leighton in Cheshire, and Frimley Park in Surrey - were built using reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac), which deteriorates significantly.
The addition of these hospitals and three new mental health facilities to list means "not all work will be completed by 2030" on all the sites in Boris Johnson's manifesto pledge, Mr Barclay said.
He claimed the shake-up "meets our manifesto commitment to build 40 hospitals by 2030" - but with a different list of hospitals.
The flagship manifesto vow has already come under fire after it emerged that that some of the schemes were refurbishments or simply additions of extra units.
Mr Barclay argued: "We now know that Raac has a limited lifespan, with difficult and dangerous consequences for the people who rely on or work in those hospitals."
Labour told him to "come clean" and admit that all 40 new hospitals would not be built by 2030.
Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: "People in these places were made a promise, and the Secretary of State has the audacity to repeat that promise today when surely he knows that even if the will is there and even, if as he says, the money is there, practically I simply do not see or understand how he will be able to deliver 40 new hospitals by 2030.
“Will he now come clean and admit that this is just another example of the Conservatives overpromising and under delivering?"
Liberal Democrat Health spokesperson Daisy Cooper said: “This is shaping up to be a disgraceful broken promise to communities across the country. Frankly, 2030 is pie in the sky.
“There is still no sign of these new hospitals and today confirms for some, there will be no spades in the ground for years to come. What a farce.
“It is a hammer blow for patients being treated in crumbling wards and nurses working in dangerous conditions. It is a national scandal that our hospitals are being left in this state."
The hospitals that face delays are:
Royal Berkshire
North Devon
East Sussex
Hammersmith Hospital and Charing Cross Hospital
St Mary's
Hampshire
Nottingham - Queens Medical and City
Lancaster and Preston
