New Hospital Programme

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry
Opened: 20 Jul 2023 Closed: 8 Mar 2024 Parliament page
The New Hospital Programme was set up in 2020 to build 40 new hospitals in England by 2030. It has £3.7 billion in capital funding for this for up to March 2025, with more to be provided for the following five years. The Programme is also intended to transform how … Read more
1 Recommendation
41 Conclusions
1 Report
1 Oral session
2 Letters
1 Event
Activity timeline 6 events
8 Mar
2024
Report published
26 Feb
2024
Correspondence
17 Nov
2023
Report published
16 Oct
2023
Correspondence
7 Sep
2023
Oral evidence
7 Sep
2023
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · Room 15, Palace of Westminster
Oral evidence sessions 1 session
7 Sep 2023
View on parliament.uk
New Hospitals Programme
Amanda Pritchard · NHS England Julian Kelly · NHS England Natalie Forrest · Department of Health and Social Care Professor Sir Stephen Powis · NHS England Shona Dunn · Home Office
Title HC No. Published Items Response
First Report - The New Hospital Programme HC 77 17 Nov 2023 42 Responded
Recommendations & Conclusions
5 results
Clear
4 Conclusion Rejected
First Report - The New Hospital Pr…
Start construction by 2024 on an early scheme piloting standardised hospital design.
DHSC must quickly complete and test its standardised hospital design to avert further delays to hospital construction, and to reduce the current high risk of cost and quality issues in years to come. DHSC has taken too long to get … Read more
Government Response
The government rejects the recommendation to start construction of a standardised hospital design scheme in 2024, stating that starting construction without sufficient design maturity risks increased time and cost.
HM Treasury
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11 Conclusion Rejected
First Report - The New Hospital Pr…
New Hospital Programme's cost and time saving estimates for standard design are very ambitious.
DHSC aims to improve the cost-effectiveness and quality of new hospitals by standardising hospital design, including the business case process, and making increased use of modern methods of construction.19 Many traditional hospital construction schemes suffered from cost overruns and delays, … Read more
Government Response
The government disagrees with the committee's implicit recommendation, reaffirming its commitment to test Hospital 2.0, its standardised approach, starting with RAAC schemes, while undertaking deep dive reviews and developing prototyping facilities from late 2024.
HM Treasury
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12 Conclusion Rejected
First Report - The New Hospital Pr…
NHP's Hospital 2.0 standard design development is significantly behind schedule, now expected May 2024.
In practice, these future time and cost savings also need to be set against the time and cost taken to develop the new approach and additional costs as a result of inflation while schemes wait to proceed. The Infrastructure and … Read more
Government Response
The government disagrees with the committee's implicit recommendation regarding delays, stating it will test Hospital 2.0 with RAAC schemes, acknowledging construction is unlikely to start in 2024 but highlighting ongoing design and prototyping work for late 2024.
HM Treasury
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14 Conclusion Rejected
First Report - The New Hospital Pr…
DHSC remains reluctant to conduct rigorous real-life testing of the Hospital 2.0 design.
More generally, we asked DHSC whether it should commit to first building one hospital according to Hospital 2.0 designs in order to discover its viability in practice, the true scope for cost and time savings, and problems and snags that … Read more
Government Response
The government disagrees with the recommendation for a single pilot hospital, stating it will test Hospital 2.0 within RAAC schemes and further develop designs through established prototyping facilities from late 2024, prior to construction.
HM Treasury
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15 Conclusion Rejected
First Report - The New Hospital Pr…
Require the New Hospital Programme to conduct comprehensive live clinical testing of Hospital 2.0 designs.
Before the evidence session, we visited a “super hospital” project in Denmark. The Danes had built a prototype of a new operating theatre on the edge of an existing hospital and each surgical team was given access to it so … Read more
Government Response
The government disagrees with the recommendation for similar live clinical exercises, stating it will test Hospital 2.0 within RAAC schemes and use prototyping facilities from late 2024 to engage clinicians and manufacturers in improving designs and aiding training.
HM Treasury
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Government Response AI assessment · 42 of 1 classified
Accepted 25
Accepted in Part 1
Acknowledged 7
Deferred 3
Not Addressed 1
Rejected 5
Total 1 rec + 41 conclusions
Correspondence 2 letters
26 Feb 2024 Correspondence from Shona Dunn, Second Permanent Secretary, Department of Health and Social Care, re Reinforced Autoclave Aerated Concrete, dated 15 February 2024
Parliament page
16 Oct 2023 Correspondence from Shona Dunn, Second Permanent Secretary, Department for Health and Social Care, re Public Accounts Committee New Hospital Programme Hearing – 7 September 2023, dated 26 September 2023
Parliament page