20 NHS building projects given green light
People are quietly pleased in my home county of Lincolnshire about this cash allocation. I do wonder if there is any particular reason why Boston as the capital of Brexit might have been chosen for this level of investment. Whatever the reason its very welcome. The story tells us:
Boris Johnson has given the green light to 20 new building and infrastructure projects in the NHS in England.
The £850m package will pay for new wards, intensive care units and diagnostic centres as well as refurbishing some existing facilities over the next five years.
Mr Johnson also said there would be an extra £1bn this year to improve and maintain existing buildings.
But doubts have been raised over whether the money really is new.
Mr Johnson said the £1bn for this year was extra – and would mean “more beds, new wards, and extra life-saving equipment”.
It will bring spending to £7bn during 2019-20.
The prime minister announced the funding package on a visit to Pilgrim Hospital in Boston, Lincolnshire, which is receiving a £21.3m share of the money to improve its A&E department.
Andrew Morgan, chief executive of United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, told Radio 4’s WATO programme that it was “a small step, but a very positive one”.
“We have a huge backlog maintenance bill here,” he said.
Mr Morgan explained that staffing was still his top priority.
But some hospitals, such as Liverpool Women’s Hospital, missed out on funding. Its interim medical director Andrew Loughney said they needed £100m to rebuild the hospital, which he called “a clinical priority”.
“Perhaps if we were in a marginal constituency, we would have been allocated the money,” he said.