Rebuild our NHS

Ahead of the important public spending decisions that will be taken by government in the months ahead, we are highlighting trusts’ needs for a properly-funded and well-designed system of capital funding. This will allow trusts to invest in the buildings and technology that will create a 21st century health service, and help them continue to deliver high-quality care to patients and service users. We need to rebuild our NHS. 

Capital funding pays for vital things the NHS needs to function, including a new hospital or 999 call centre, a CT scanner or community rehabilitation facilities. This investment is critical for the NHS to function. Without capital funding, broken equipment does not get replaced and new buildings and services cannot be developed.

Despite the prime minister’s recent welcome commitment of an additional £1.8bn for NHS capital, which will allow some urgent hospital upgrades to go ahead, more is needed to make urgent repairs and deliver long term improvements. There are three problems that NHS organisations face in ensuring they have enough capital funding:

• first, no capital budget has been set for the NHS beyond 2020/21
• second, current levels of capital spending are insufficient for the NHS’ needs
• third, existing mechanisms for individual NHS organisations to access capital funding do not work. 

NHS Providers is calling on the government to take three steps to help rebuild our NHS:

• First, set a multiyear NHS capital funding settlement – just as the government has done for the NHS’ revenue budget – allowing the NHS to plan for the long term and transform its services and equipment. Ideally, this would match the ten years of the NHS long term plan 

• Second, commit to bringing the NHS’ capital budget into line with comparable economies, allowing the NHS to pay for essential maintenance work while also investing in long-term, transformational capital projects. We should be aiming to at least double the NHS current capital spend and sustain that growth for the foreseeable future. Because the NHS is a universal public service, increasing NHS capital budgets has the added benefit of bringing much needed investment and jobs to parts of the country that would otherwise struggle to attract them 

• Third, establish an efficient and effective mechanism for prioritising, accessing and spending NHS capital based on need, in consultation with those planning and delivering services. This mechanism should ensure NHS organisations are not punished for seeking capital funding by the use of interest-bearing loans which they cannot afford to repay 

We need to rebuild our NHS and give those that look after our health the tools to create the 21^st century health service that our patients and service users expect, and that we can all be proud of.

For more information about this campaign please contact Ferelith Gaze.

Case studies

NHS organisations frequently tell us of the positive impact that a properly-funded and well-designed system of capital funding would have. Examples of projects that trusts are seeking to fund include:

Supported by

The following organisations have joined our coalition to call for a properly-funded and well-designed system of capital funding.