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Eight schemes in the New Hospitals Programme will be shunted back into the next decade, it was revealed yesterday.

The programme will also receive £10bn less than was hoped for, with ministers set to announce around £20bn of capital funding for the NHP by the end of this decade, against the £32bn of central funding that programme leaders said was required.

The announcement means eight schemes will not be finished by 2030, as promised in the Conservative manifesto and subsequent statements.

Health and social care secretary Steve Barclay has confirmed the schemes being pushed back are; St Mary’s/Charing Cross/Hammersmith Hospitals (Imperial); Queen’s Medical Centre (QMC)/Nottingham City Hospital; Royal Preston Hospital; Royal Lancaster Infirmary/Furness General; East Sussex Hospitals; Hampshire Hospitals; Royal Berkshire; and North Devon District Hospital.

The government will argue it is still meeting the pledge to deliver 40 new hospitals, by saying the eight schemes pushed back until after 2030 have been replaced by the five RAAC projects, as well as three mental health facilities that were part of wider capital plans.

Glen, again

Prolific CEO Glen Burley looks set to expand his West Midlands empire by leading a struggling acute trust recently vacated by the departure of Matthew Hopkins.

Pending board approval, Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust looks likely to join the provider group model currently led by Mr Burley.

It would mean the long-serving acute chief, who started his career as a finance trainee in the 1980s, would be CEO of WAHT while also leading South Warwickshire Foundation Trust, George Eliot Hospital Trust and Wye Valley Trust.

Under the model, one of the first established in the NHS, each trust has a managing director but shares an overall CEO and chair with the group.

Mr Hopkins, who announced he was leaving to join Mid and South Essex FT earlier this year, said WAHT joining the provider group was its preferred option, although a final decision will be made on 8 June at its public board meeting.

WAHT has endured significant performance problems in recent years. Its Care Quality Commission rating was raised from “inadequate” to “requires improvement” in 2019, but it continues to experience major issues with ambulance handover delays and in emergency care, having faced challenges through the pandemic and beyond.

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