The UK government’s flagship pledge to build 40 new hospitals by 2030 has been put on life-support by inflation.
Officials are debating which projects to delay as the NHS capital budget faces a shortfall of close to £2bn by 2027/8.
Some of the 40 hospital projects, pledged by Boris Johnson as prime minister, are likely to be put on ice, particularly given the need to prioritise urgent work to fix five hospitals whose roofs are at risk of collapse.
The majority of the proposed projects were not new hospitals but extensions, refurbishments or replacements for existing hospitals. Only 10 projects had secured full planning permission by last month.
