Steve Barclay insists 40 new hospitals goal will nonetheless be met – though solely two have been constructed to date

The well being secretary has insisted the federal government will meet its manifesto dedication to construct 40 new hospitals in England by 2030 – regardless of having so as to add 5 new websites to the programme over security fears.

Steve Barclay mentioned the addition of the unsafe hospitals meant that seven of the unique websites could not have work accomplished by the tip of the last decade.

He mentioned that whereas work will begin on these schemes over the following two years, “they will be part of a rolling programme where not all work will be completed by 2030”.

“This is a reflection of the disruption that two years of the COVID pandemic has caused as well as the pressure from construction inflation,” he mentioned.

Instead, 5 new websites – Airedale General in Keighley, Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn, Hinchingbrooke close to Huntingdon, Leighton Hospital in Cheshire and Frimley Park in Surrey – could be added to the programme as a precedence.

The 5 hospitals are deemed unsafe owing to the usage of Raac, strengthened autoclaved aerated concrete, which he mentioned meant they had been “not safe to operate beyond 2030”.

Two different hospitals, West Suffolk hospital and the James Paget hospital, are already scheduled for a rebuild due to Raac, he mentioned.

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The well being secretary informed MPs: “We now know that Raac has a restricted lifespan, with tough and harmful penalties for the individuals who depend on or work in these hospitals.

“Seven hospitals in England have been constructed either wholly or in major part with Raac. And an independent assessment shows they are not safe to operate beyond 2030.”

However, regardless of the addition of 5 new initiatives, Mr Barclay mentioned “the commitment to completion by 2030 applies to the 40 schemes set out today – which meets our manifesto commitment to build 40 hospitals by 2030”.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats instantly criticised the announcement, with the latter calling the 2030 goal “pie in the sky”.

The pledge to build 40 new hospitals was a key plank of Boris Johnson’s 2019 election manifesto, however it has been beset with issues from the beginning.

The authorities admitted that solely two hospitals have been accomplished, whereas 5 are in building.

It claims that by the tip of subsequent yr, greater than 20 shall be underneath manner or full.

Questions have additionally been raised over the funding of the programme, which Mr Barclay mentioned could be “fully funded” and backed by £20bn funding in hospital infrastructure.

However, that determine is considerably much less that one estimate which places the associated fee at £35bn.

A Sky News investigation in August revealed the venture was under acute pressure and that 80% of the brand new hospitals promised by the Conservatives in 2019 both didn’t have a completion date or had been unlikely to be completed by the following common election, whereas deadlines for among the hospitals have slipped.

Labour’s shadow well being secretary Wes Streeting known as on the federal government to “come clean” and admit that each one new 40 hospitals wouldn’t be constructed by the tip of the last decade.

Labour known as on the well being secretary to “come clean” and admit that each one 40 new hospitals wouldn’t be constructed by 2030.

“I genuinely expected that the secretary of state might come to the House today 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,” he mentioned.

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“It was a straightforward commitment. 40 new hospitals. Except since then we have become familiar with the idea that they weren’t new and astonishingly they weren’t even new hospitals.”

Mr Streeting added: “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.”

Liberal Democrat well being spokesperson Daisy Cooper mentioned the replace was “shaping up to be a disgraceful broken promise to communities across the country”.

“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.”