25 hospitals in scope of the New Hospital Programme review
Chancellor Rachel Reeves promised a review of the New Hospital Programme (NHP) set up by the Conservative government soon after taking power.
The Government has now published its Terms of Reference (ToR) for its internal review of the NHP. The review will consider the options for putting the NHP onto a “realistic, deliverable and affordable footing” says the ToR. It said the review is expected to conclude “as soon as possible”, with a series of options for the hospital rebuilds. The review is expected to feed into the Government’s spending review process.
Schemes out of scope of the review
Hospitals with full business cases will continue to their current delivery timelines. Also out of scope will be the seven hospital schemes with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) which will continue at “pace” due to safety risks.
The RAAC hospitals include:
- Airedale General Hospital
- Frimley Park Hospital
- Hinchingbrooke Hospital
- James Paget Hospital, Great Yarmouth
- Leighton Hospital
- Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kings Lynn
- West Suffolk Hospital, Bury St Edmunds
There are also four hospital schemes that fall out of scope of the review and will be supported to complete the main construction or remaining phases. These hospitals were in the later stages of development prior to the NHP being announced.
They are Brighton 3Ts, CEDAR Programme in Cumbria, the National Rehabilitation Centre in Nottingham and the Oriel Eye Hospital in London.
Similarly, there are a further five hospitals across the counties that have completed construction and are either open to patients or soon to be welcoming patients.
Schemes in scope of the review
There are 25 hospitals included in the review group who are without a full business case approval for the main build phase. The ToR explain that hospitals will be prioritised according to the criteria, with the review looking at the possible timelines for delivery of each scheme, along with clinical consideration, risk and cost profiles. It says that options and recommendations for phasing the programme will be set for ministers to consider.
You can read the ToR here which include the full list of schemes in and out of scope of the review.
We’ll have to wait and see which hospitals are given the go-ahead following government scrutiny.