PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Hospitals: Construction (22 October 2019)

National Health Service organisations undertaking investment schemes are required to produce business cases to support their decisions. Business cases are prepared by the NHS. The Department does not routinely publish business cases and the decision to publish the outline or full business cases this would be for the lead NHS organisation.

Business cases will be supported by a range of stakeholders including sustainability and transformation partnerships and NHS regional teams. We have announced changes to the process for approving business cases, including looking at offering more assistance for providers in developing their business cases, potentially releasing some funding earlier, and streamlining the approvals process for submitted cases.

The schemes on the shortlist of 21 projects, covering 34 hospitals were not assigned a “score”. The criteria used to arrive at the 21 projects identified to receive seed funding to kick start their schemes considered various aspects. The estates and facilities running costs were a factor and backlog, in particular Critical Infrastructure Risk (a subset of the highest risk elements of backlog with a potential for significant impact e.g. fire safety). Other areas considered were unused and functionally unsuitable space and incidents having an impact on clinical services. Furthermore, the list was checked to ensure regions were fairly represented. All this took place with engagement through NHS regional teams taking their view on overall investment need and local prioritisation.