Daily Insight: Newish Hospitals Programme

One of the government’s “40 new hospitals” is unlikely to be completed before 2030, a trust has warned, after facing continued delays.

Barts Health Trust’s board was told this week that previous assumptions of starting construction on Whipps Cross Hospital in 2025, and completing it by the end of the decade, were now “highly unlikely”.

It represents a significant admission as Barts is one of the first trusts to publicly admit their hospital rebuild could miss the government deadline.

Whipps Cross Hospital chief executive Amanjit Jhund, who updated the board, said they were in “frequent contact” with the New Hospitals Programme team and “continue to emphasise the overall state of readiness”.

An assessment has been undertaken of the designs against some key “Hospital 2.0” requirements, while a refreshed outline business case is awaiting NHP approval. However, while Mr Jhund told the board in January that construction in 2025 was “feasible”, this position has since changed.

This news will disappoint, but not surprise, trust and system leaders in east London.

Project costs are now likely to triple the original capital granted by ministers and Barts waited 18 months before a key business case got the go-ahead.

Out of hours? Out of reach

A teaching hospital has been placed under enhanced monitoring by the General Medical Council due to safety concerns over a lack of appropriate supervision for trainee doctors.

A case was opened into University Hospital Southampton’s general surgery training following a referral and quality management visit by NHS England South East, Workforce Training and Education – Wessex.The regulator heard evidence from foundation year doctors that senior staff were “not contactable” out of hours and that there was “difficulty” in securing senior clinical advice, particularly on Sundays.

NHSE’s report detailed how trainee doctors were “discouraged” from contacting senior staff out of hours through “belittling” and “inappropriate” comments, such as being told not to ask for help “unless your patient is dying”.

The report also detailed evidence of bullying, inappropriate sexual comments made by consultants, and a general feeling that foundation doctors could not speak up. UHS is one of 19 NHS organisations in England with an open GMC enhanced monitoring case.