Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 14
14
Deferred
ICSs must contend with the legacy of an increasingly decrepit NHS estate and infrastructure.
Conclusion
ICSs must contend with the legacy of an increasingly decrepit NHS estate and infrastructure. The NAO’s report highlights that the cost of the work needed to bring the NHS estate back up to scratch has increased from just under £5 billion in 2015–16 to an eye-watering £9 billion by 2020–21, of which £4.5 billion was assessed as high or significant risk repairs.44 We have previously reported on capital expenditure pressures in the NHS and the Department’s ongoing failure to publish a capital funding strategy, which was originally due in 2019.45 The situation is exacerbated by the limited pots of capital funding in the NHS, and long delays to decision making for existing capital programmes. We highlighted the example of the Queen Elizabeth hospital in King’s Lynn, which currently has 3,000 timber and steel supports holding up a cracked aerated concrete roof.46 Staff and patients at the hospital have been waiting many years for a decision on whether they will be included in the government’s new hospitals programme, and we were told they must now wait until later this year for a decision that was most recently expected in spring.47
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and states that plans for a capital strategy remain under consideration, and the strategy is intended to be published within 2023.
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
5.1. The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: 2023 5.2 At the time of the department’s most recent letter sent to the Committee dated 15 November 2022 and the most recent Treasury Minutes Progress Report, it was noted that the intended publication date was early 2023. Plans for a capital strategy remain under consideration, and the strategy is intended to be published within 2023. 5.3 The strategy will include an assessment of the current challenges to healthcare infrastructure this decade and proposals to address this.