Boris Johnson’s government is being urged by the bosses of the 240 NHS trusts in England to build 100 new hospitals and give the service an extra £7bn a year for new facilities and equipment.
NHS Providers, the organisation that represents the bosses, wants PM to commit to far more than the 40 new hospitals over the next decade pledged by the Conservatives during the general election. The pledge also included £2.7bn to rebuild six existing hospitals and upgrade 20 others, although has been criticised for a lack of detail on the latter two pledges.
NHS Providers claim that many hospitals, clinics and mental health units are dilapidated after years of underinvestment in the NHS’s capital budget with too many facilities cramped and growing numbers being unsafe for patients and staff.
In NHS Providers’ new report, Rebuilding Our NHS, there is a demand that ministers “at least double” the NHS’s £7.1bn a year capital funding to pay for new buildings, urgent repairs and extra equipment, and draw up a 10-year capital investment plan so trusts can modernise ageing infrastructure.
Full story in The Guardian, 4 February 2020