First Report - The New Hospital Programme
Select Committee
Public Accounts Committee
HC 77
17 November 2023
Government response
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the First report from Session 2023-24 · published 8 Mar 2024
Recommendations & Conclusions
5 results
4
Conclusion
Rejected
Start construction by 2024 on an early scheme piloting standardised hospital design.
Conclusion
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 Summary
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
View Details
11
Conclusion
Rejected
New Hospital Programme's cost and time saving estimates for standard design are very ambitious.
Conclusion
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 Summary
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
View Details
12
Conclusion
Rejected
NHP's Hospital 2.0 standard design development is significantly behind schedule, now expected May 2024.
Conclusion
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 Summary
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
View Details
14
Conclusion
Rejected
DHSC remains reluctant to conduct rigorous real-life testing of the Hospital 2.0 design.
Conclusion
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 Summary
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
View Details
15
Conclusion
Rejected
Require the New Hospital Programme to conduct comprehensive live clinical testing of Hospital 2.0 designs.
Conclusion
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 Summary
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
View Details