Daily Insight: Suspense builds

The government has pledged to build 40 “new hospitals” – but never really revealed how much this would cost.

They have allocated £3.7bn until 2025 – but nothing further. This money has allowed pre-existing and smaller schemes to make headway, while larger ones are still waiting to properly get going.

HSJ can now reveal the estimated overall cost of the scheme. It is, somewhat predictably, much higher than what has been handed out so far.

The New Hospital Programme says it would cost around £27bn to build the 40 projects announced so far by 2030. It would cost a further £7-8bn to sort out five hospitals with unsafe reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete roofs, which it is understood to have been asked to bring in.

These estimates give an idea of what the government needs to fork out to fulfil its promise of delivering the much-anticipated 40 “new hospitals” by 2030.

What exactly they are going to commit is still up in the air. Schemes were expecting news last month, which never came. 

Culture, cover-ups and conflicts of interest

Fallout from a damning review highlighting a trust’s bullying culture continues as an independent group raised fears over a potential “cover-up” of key reports.

The cross-party reference group set up to scrutinise investigations into University Hospitals Birmingham has responded to Mike Bewick’s probe into patient safety, published last week.

They have demanded transparency over key decisions and access to the fit and proper person investigation into former CEO David Rosser’s handling of an unfair dismissal case, to assuage concerns about conflict of interest and fears of a potential “cover up”.

Meanwhile, the group – chaired by Birmingham Edgbaston MP Preet Gill – warned that responsibility for what Professor Bewick described as an “entrenched” bullying culture cannot be placed purely at the feet of Dr Rosser, who announced his retirement last week.

They added: “Feedback from staff has made it clear that there must be collective accountability by the senior leadership for the distressing culture afflicting the trust…

“While the report says that it is satisfied with the leadership team, we continue to hear concerns from staff about whether those leaders who have presided over the bullying culture will be able to change their leadership style.”