Deadline to fix unsafe crumbling NHS hospitals will be missed

Work to fix hospitals built using unsafe concrete will not be completed in time to meet the government’s target, a new report has warned.

Seven hospitals built using Raac, or reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, were prioritised for remedial work last year, with the government setting a deadline of 2030.

The new buildings are now expected to open in 2032 and 2033 – but some are already facing pressure to meet the revised timetable, the National Audit Office (NAO) said.

In a number of hospitals, roofs are being supported by metal props and some areas have been closed as unsafe.

Meanwhile, affected health trusts face huge maintenance bills to keep their aging buildings safe.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting called the original New Hospitals Programme – 40 new hospitals by 2030 – promises “that were never going to be met”.

In January 2025 he revised the scheme, prioritising 20 of the projects, including Raac hospitals, with more funding and later dates of completion.

The NAO report says the 2025 review did put the programme on a “more realistic, stable, long-term footing”.

Standardising the design for some of the new buildings should speed up delivery and reduce costs, for example.

But some of the new dates for completion have slipped. Torbay, Kettering and Musgrove Park hospitals are all delayed – they are estimated to be open nine to ten years later than under the previous plan.

Raac is less durable than reinforced concrete as the “bubbly” structure can let water in, weakening the building material which can crumble and collapse.

All of the seven “prioritised” schemes to replace Raac now won’t be completed until 2032-33 and with “significant operational and clinical risk and cost “, says the NAO.

In the meantime, hospitals including the West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds and The Queen Elizabeth Hospitals in Kings Lynn are facing huge maintenance bills to keep their sites open.

By 2025 the seven hospitals will have required more than £500 million of investment to prevent structural failure.

The NHS aims to remove all Raac concrete from its estate by 2035. The Department for Health and Social Care says so far there are 20 sites where it has been eradicated and that it is investing £1.6 billion across the next four years.

Chair of the Public Accounts Committee Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown says the delays in addressing crumbling Raac must now be addressed “as a matter of urgency.”

But the report warns that there is a tight construction schedule overall with little contingency in the next five years, so delivery dates could slip further.

Mr Tim Mitchell, President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, said: “A steadier plan is better than drifting, but patients cannot wait a decade for capacity that we need now.

“NHS trusts will be pouring scarce funds into patching up old buildings for longer, when that money should be used to create extra operating theatres, securing ring‑fenced beds and making sure that there is enough staff to run them.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “We’ve confirmed a sustainable funding plan and an achievable timetable to deliver all schemes in the programme. We are now getting on with building these much-needed facilities as quickly as possible.”