NHS review to urge Starmer to spend BILLIONS on hospital buildings despite infrastructure budget raid

The Prime Minister said the much anticipated review showed that the state of the NHS was “unforgivable”, though whilst the health service was “broken”, it was not “beaten”.

The independent investigation has scrutinised patient access to care, the quality of care provided, and the overall performance of the NHS.

Darzi’s review will conclude that 50 years of heart disease progress has regressed, as care standards have slipped due to longer wait times in hospitals.

He will say: “Once adjusted for age, the cardiovascular disease mortality rate for people aged under 75 dropped significantly between 2001 and 2010. But improvements have stalled since then and the mortality rate started rising again during the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Darzi is also expected to urge the Treasury to fund the construction of new hospitals across the country, stating that Britain has historically spent far less on medical equipment and buildings than other nations.

Analysis by the NHS Confederation has found that since 2010 the NHS has spent between £3billion to £4bn a year less on infrastructure than other western European countries, with a cumulative cap of £33bn in the years before the pandemic.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:

• NHS risks more staff shortages as quarter of workers plan to leave in five years
• How the NHS are wasting OUR cash on the cult of diversity
• 'Middle-aged MOTs!' Britons face being weighed at work as NHS roll out new measures

In comparison to other western countries, since 2010, the NHS has spent between £3bn to £4bn a year less.

Despite the review urging for more money to be poured into the construction of new buildings, as well as improving the NHS as a whole, £800m is expected to be taken from the healthcare system’s capital funds to cover a “black hole” in the books.

The Chancellor has previously slammed the last Conservative Government for leaving a £22bn "black hole" in the public finances.

Wes Streeting has said he will utilise the review to urge Rachel Reeves to give a boost to the NHS in next year’s spending review.

He told LBC: “We keep on, year after year, raiding the capital budgets for bricks and mortar, new hospitals, clinics — all the rest of it — and the tech budget, because day-to-day spending splurges out of control, and I’m determined to break that cycle.”

Discussing the review, Starmer said: “If there’s one thing this country knows, it’s [that] the last government broke the NHS.

“Our job now, through Lord Darzi, is to properly understand how that came about and bring about the reforms.”