PM’s £1.8bn pledge for NHS buildings is “drop in the ocean,” say experts

Boris Johnson has announced that his government will release £1.8bn (€2bn; $2.2bn) to fund new equipment and buildings at selected sites across England.

Twenty hospital trusts and primary care organisations in England (box 1) will receive a share of £850m in new capital funding to enable them to upgrade outdated facilities and equipment. An additional £1bn will be released by the Treasury from surplus reserves to allow existing projects to update facilities and infrastructure to proceed.

Healthcare leaders and experts have welcomed the announcement but said the funding fell well short of what was needed to clear the huge £6bn backlog of NHS maintenance costs.

Johnson made the announcement on Monday 5 August during a visit to Boston Pilgrim Hospital of the United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, one of the organisations that will benefit from the funding. It is part of a package of new announcements on the NHS expected this week. On 7 August the government was due to announce a “new, more flexible” consultation on NHS pensions for senior doctors. It said it would issue guidance to all NHS trusts on actions they may take to mitigate the immediate pensions difficulties facing …