South Reading Patient Voice

We hear a lot about the programme forNew Hospitals Programme - Sleight of Hand? 40 or 48 new hospitals in the NHS.

Here Roy Lilley of the Institute of Health Management gives the lowdown on what is behind it .....

The truth about the 40 hospitals…

• ‘New’ has been redefined to include refurbishment and alterations to old hospitals.
• Of the 40; 22 are rebuilding projects.
• 12 are new bits, grafted on to existing hospitals.
• Three are for non-urgent care.
• There are only three 'new' hospitals… two general hospitals and one non-urgent care hospital.
• DH+ imbroglio in this misdirection say; ‘"we have committed to build 48 hospitals by 2030, backed by an initial £3.7bn”… actually, to build a new hospital costs half a billion.
• The New Hospital Programme people have a ‘playbook’; seven communications people, through whom all press notices, from Trusts, must be ‘cleared’ ..., coordinating the misdirection.
• The independent Infrastructure and Projects Authority give the NHS projects a red RAG-rating.
• Shortages in construction materials, unexpected custom’s duties, energy costs and inflation are all impacting the construction sector.
• Brexit has created workforce shortages.

There are not going to be 40 new hospitals…

Still - if the Royal Berkshire Hospital redevelopment project is a useful rebuilding of part of the hospital - let's hope they do a good job and keep it fit to deliver modern medicine to its catchment - that's us, folks.