Hospitals: Maintenance

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock Excerpts

Thursday 9th February 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

We have eight cohort 1 hospitals, which all have full planning permission and are in various stages of construction. We have 10 cohort 2 hospitals, of which two have full planning permission, seven have outline planning permission and one is awaiting approval of outline permission. All have had the preparation works done. So that is 17 where massive progress is being made. We then have cohort 3 schemes: the new hospital 2.0 projects, which are introducing modern methods of construction to standardise production and get cheaper and more efficient hospitals at a quicker rate of output. That is what I invite noble Lords to come and see for themselves over the coming weeks. This programme is very real and I will happily take people through whatever detail they want because, believe me, it is all there.

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab Co-op)]

Is the Minister aware that, from time to time I have asked his predecessors to discuss with Scottish Ministers how they can help each other? However, in this area I am not going to do that because in Scotland, the children’s hospital in Edinburgh was delayed by a year and the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow has had enormous problems. Is there a competition between the English Tories and the SNP to see who can bring the NHS to its knees first?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I can speak clearly on the subject of the new hospital programme, which I think the noble Lord will find is world-class. I will happily demonstrate that to him; indeed, people will see how ground-breaking this project actually is. We will see standardised designs with improved clinical standards, and more efficient productivity and costs as a result. It will be world-class, and we will export it around the world.