New Hospital Programme

Infrastructure and Construction

Record date: 31 March 2026

Whole-life cost: £47.5bn
Published schedule: 01/01/2021 – 05/04/2046
NISTA delivery confidence: AMBER
Senior responsible owner: Charlotte Taylor, Paul Mustow

What the project is for

The New Hospital Programme was set up in October 2020 to deliver a combination of health, infrastructure and major programme capital delivery. The New Hospital Programme incorporated 46 hospital schemes, which includes the replacement of seven hospitals built wholly or mostly from Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC).

Departmental delivery commentary

As with financial year 24/25-Q4, NISTA’s Delivery Confidence Assessment rating at 25/26-Q4 remained at AMBER. This is primarily due to the following factors which have strengthened governance and assurance: working towards finalising a three-year Business Plan that will enable clearer spend decisions; strengthening capital delegations to allow higher value business case approvals e.g. for enabling works; strengthening governance and assurance; and prioritising recruitment to senior delivery team roles. The procurement of the Hospital 2.0 Alliance (H2A) was successfully completed, with the H2A Framework and Alliance Joining Agreements fully executed.

Schedule

The programme end-date at 25/26-Q4 is 05/04/2046. The NHP continues to work closely with Trusts to progress their schemes in line with the timelines set out in the published Plan for Implementation. The latest agreed version of the Programme Business Case was fully approved in February 2025; the Hospital 2.0 standardised system is well advanced; and the Hospital 2.0 Alliance procurement has been concluded successfully. The hospitals that are being replaced due to being constructed wholly or mostly from Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) remain a programme priority.

Cost

The project's departmentally agreed Whole Life Cost at 25/26-Q4 remained at the same level as 24/25. This is primarily due to the following factors Whole Life Costs do not include Pre-programme expenditure, or BAU running costs for each project. This will be assessed via individual business cases and funded over the lifetime of the asset. Whole Life Costs are now based on the latest agreed Programme Business Case, which was fully approved in February 2025, and covers 46 schemes for completion by 2045/46.

Benefits

The project's departmentally agreed Benefits at 25/26-Q4 (measured in £m) remained as per 24/25. This is primarily due to the following factors‚ This is now based on the latest agreed Programme Business Case, which was fully approved in February 2025. It includes efficiency benefits in nominal terms over 60 years post construction and inflates this by a rate of 2%. This considers cash releasing and non-cash releasing efficiency benefits, but not societal benefits as these are not counted as efficiencies.