What’s happened to the promised 40 new hospitals?.
Whitehall casually tossed out this sop to us, with the Dept. Health (DH) saying plans were in hand for these new additions.
If, like me, you can remember these being promised and wonder what is happening, by chance I was reading Roy Lillie’s excellent nhsManagers Newsletter, giving an explanation of what might have happened: :- ‘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.
Well, Roy is an expert, having worked in the NHS
Why do they do this?
OK – there is a shortage of building materials, construction workers, etc. but has anyone seen a work site?
Or are the planned hospitals ghost establishments?
Help!
Has anyone any photos of building sites – of the three definite hospitals – or perhaps all 40 of those proposed ?
Or are they designed for/by Ghosts?