Hospitals — 23 Apr 2025 at 16:02

That this House regrets the appalling state of repair of NHS hospitals across the country; notes that the NHS maintenance backlog rose to £13.8 billion in 2023-24; further notes the sustained pattern of cannibalising NHS capital budgets to keep day-to-day services running; condemns the previous Government’s record of starved repair budgets and exploding maintenance backlogs, which made sewage leaks, cracked walls, crumbling ceilings and sinking floors commonplace; further condemns the previous Government for launching the New Hospital Programme with no realistic plan to fund or deliver it; further regrets that almost half of the selected hospitals are now not set to begin construction until after 2030; calls on the Government to reverse the delay to the New Hospital Programme and create a crumbling hospitals taskforce to bring construction dates forward; and further calls on the Government to end the vicious cycle of false economies and rising repair backlogs by putting hospitals across the country on a path towards sustainable funding.

“also notes that the Chancellor has announced new fiscal rules to ensure capital budgets can no longer be cannibalised, with transfers from capital to resource budgets not permitted; recognises that the previous Government left a New Hospital Programme which was unfunded, unrealistic and undeliverable; welcomes that the Government has taken action to review that Programme and has published the New Hospital Programme Plan for Implementation, to put the Programme on a sustainable footing; supports the Government’s investment in the Plan, which will increase to up to £15 billion over each consecutive five-year wave, averaging around £3 billion a year from 2030; and further supports the work being done to bring forward construction of the reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete replacement schemes wherever possible, to ensure that patient and staff safety is prioritised.”

“other key priorities in health spending, such as funding to enable the Secretary of State’s 3 shifts”.

“The age and standard of current hospital buildings presents challenges for the consistent delivery of safe, effective, responsive and efficient care.”

“estimated that the remaining life of the RAAC panels”

“the installation of fail-safe steelwork.”

“assessing the clinical and operational impacts of the running of the existing hospital beyond the estimated life of the current hospital site”.

“All staff at Stepping Hill, from top to bottom, were absolutely brilliant”.

“Without Stepping Hill and the wonderful doctors and nurses there, my son would not be here today”,

“Staff were run ragged but were amazing.”

“A revolutionary moment…is a time for revolutions, not for patching.”

“some schemes publicly promised in 2020 now face substantial delays and will not be completed by 2030…with implications for patients and clinicians.”

Debate in Parliament |