Briefing on National Audit Office Report entitled Progress with the New Hospital Programme (July 2023) and University Hospitals of Leicester reconfiguration scheme, Leicester

This briefing paper highlights key messages in the National Audit Office's July 2023 report entitled Progress with the New Hospital Programme which investigated progress made by the New Hospital Programme team regarding the government's promises of "40 new hospitals by 2030". It identifies the key concerns of the National Audit Office (NAO), especially as they affect 'cohort 3' schemes. These include concerns about potentially unrealistic assumptions underpinning the national team's planning and potential problems with the evolving design of the new hospitals which the NAO fears could lead to hospitals which are too small to respond to future patient need. The report then considers the acute and maternity services reconfiguration plans of University Hospitals of Leicester in the light of the NAO's findings.