PMQs: Sunak and Starmer clash over NHS waiting times

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Investment in reducing the maintenance backlog has also risen.

Figures show the 2021/22 bill for reducing the maintenance backlog was as high as £1.4 billion. This compares with £895 million spent the previous year and is more than three times higher than the 2017/18 bill of £404 million.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care told the MailOnline: “We have invested record sums to upgrade NHS buildings and facilities so that trusts can continue to provide the best possible quality of care.

“We have committed to eradicating RAAC (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete) from the NHS estate by 2035 and are protecting patient and staff safety in the interim period, including investing over £685 million to directly address urgent risks.

“We have invested £3.7 billion for the first four years of the New Hospital Programme and remain committed to all schemes that have been announced as part of it. We continue to work closely with trusts on their plans for new hospitals and are working through the recommendations for individual schemes.”

The state of NHS hospitals has been under focus as the health service endures one of its worst winters on record.

In a letter to ministers, Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting questioned the Conservative’s manifesto pledge to build 40 new hospitals.

He wrote: “Rishi Sunak appears to have ditched the 40 new hospitals pledge, adding one more failure to the Conservatives’ record of overpromising and underdelivering.”

The Conservatives literally didn’t fix the hospital roof when the sun was shining and now the NHS is crumbling. Patients are paying the price for the Conservatives’ failure with longer waits, while taxpayers are paying more but getting less thanks to delays.”

When asked about the state of NHS hospitals, Health Secretary Steve Barclay said part of the problem lay with the design of the hospitals.

He said the NHS needed “a fundamental shift away from bespoke local designs by local chief execs to a more standardised, modular, modern method of construction approach”.

This method would be used to ensure new hospitals were built quickly and cost effectively.

The pledge to build 40 new hospitals was one of the key pledges the Conservative Party campaigned under during the 2019 general election.

According to the Observer, only around 10 of the 40 promised new hospitals have secured planning permission.

One NHS Trust boss told the paper: “There’s a 0% chance there’s going to be 40 new hospitals by 2030.

“We’ll be moderately lucky to have eight. At the moment we’re doing loads of maintenance work on an ongoing basis, trying to sort out roofs and theatres and all those things. Some hospitals are literally falling down.”

The state of NHS hospitals is one of many issues the current government is trying to fix before the next general election takes place in 2024.

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