Are enough new hospitals being built in the UK?

Back in 2020, the Government announced the New Hospitals Programme (NHP). A programme committed to building 40 new hospitals in England by 2030.

As of early 2025, the Health Secretary confirmed that not a single new hospital had been built in the previous five years and that the programme had begun without a funding plan. In 2024, the government invested in the NHP plan, with funding up to £15 billion over each consecutive 5-year wave, averaging around £3 billion a year from 2030.

According to the Gov, as of January 2025, 21 schemes have already been approved and are “out of scope” from the recent review.

 

The Wave 1 construction plan for 2025–2030.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NHP schemes in the different regions of England:

 

According to the NHS (May 2024), England has roughly 1,140 NHS hospitals. Some of these hospital estates are in poor condition, with buildings requiring extensive repairs or total rebuilding. Underinvestment in hospital buildings has led to several closures over the years.

 

RAAC Hospitals and their impacts on the NHP scheme

Many hospitals in England were built using a type of concrete called RAAC. Meaning “Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete”.

It was a common building material in the UK from the 1960s to the 1980s. The issue with this material is that it is a cheaper type of concrete, which contains bubbles and is more lightweight. It can also let water into the reinforcing steel frame, causing it to rust and crumble over time.

A major problem with RAAC is that it has around a 30-year shelf life, according to an article by The Standard. After its limited life span, the material can deteriorate quite significantly, causing issues for several older hospitals.

The NHS have asked the government to prioritise the rebuilding of 5 hospitals given the risks they pose to patients and staff.

According to GOV:

• There are a total of 47 hospitals that contain RAAC across the NHS.
• Between February – October 2024, a total of 2 more hospital sites have also been identified as RAAC, bringing this figure to 49.

A major factor in the speed and success of the New Hospitals Programme is the addition of rebuilding hospitals with this material. 7 out of the 40 NHP schemes will replace RAAC hospitals, with lots more to rebuild on top of this. An article in the Construction Index expressed concerns that if the rebuilding process is not sped up, some hospitals may have to close before their replacements are ready.

You can find a list of all hospitals with confirmed RAAC.

 

Construction delays & progress

The Government have stated that because of the RAAC rebuilds and the rising cost of building materials, some projects will now be completed after 2030. Despite continued optimism from the Government, many are concerned that more hospitals will close before they are repaired.

The scheduled completion date of 8 new hospitals promised in the original programme has now been delayed until after 2030, and in total, only 32 of the new hospitals are now planned for completion by 2030. Following a reset of the programme in May 2023, DHSC changed what it would count as a new hospital for the purposes of its 2030 commitment.

By October 2023, no new hospitals had yet opened, and, in May 2023, DHSC abandoned the idea of building all 40 by 2030.

The new Dyson Cancer Centre opened in spring 2024, along with Greater Manchester Major Trauma Hospital, and the CEDAR Programme in Northumberland was completed too.

From the Guardian 2023, “there’s a 0% chance there’s going to be 40 new hospitals by 2030,” said the boss of one of the NHS Trusts awaiting a new hospital.” As mentioned earlier, only 10 out of 40 building projects have full planning permission. Without permissions already in place, significant delays could be expected. In the same article, it was stated that “those involved in some of the projects said they had already faced lengthy delays, leaving them with decrepit and often unusable buildings.”

In addition, in May 2023, the Daily Mail reported that “the main building works have yet to start at 33 facilities, it was revealed today. Another five are currently under construction.” As well as noting that the “health chief is ‘frustrated’ by the delays and lack of clarity over the huge scheme, which No.10 originally backed with £3.7 billion in funding.”

 

Investment

On top of a tight timeframe and construction difficulties, investment appears to be an issue in completing the building of new hospitals. In October 2020, an initial budget of £3.7 billion was confirmed. Since then, this was found to be completely underfunded, and as of 2024, the New Hospital Programme has been backed by over £15 billion of investment.

Working closely with HM Treasury, they have secured 5-year waves of investment, ensuring that there is always a balanced portfolio of hospital schemes at different development stages being delivered now and into the future. Despite the £3.7 billion initial investment announcement, many hospitals had not yet received enough funding to begin their projects.

Hospitals in the programme were contacted by news outlets to determine the status of their progress. The BBC found that of the 40 hospitals in the scheme, just 8 had full funding. 31 had not yet received the money to start, and the hospital declined to answer.

Budget is a major factor in the progress being made, and some organisations are concerned that financial limits may lead to hospitals being made “too small”, or that they won’t meet the needs of patients. This resulted in further financial loss and even more delays to the development of the project.

 

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