Regarding the article by your correspondents Laura Hughes and Anna Gross, it’s right that all options should be on the table when looking at how to build new NHS infrastructure (“NHS leaders explore private finance for crumbling estate”, Report, March 2).
Given how much of the existing health estate is in a terrible condition, it’s critical that any solutions considered as part of the NHS 10-year-plan also look at how we’re going to fix the staggering £13.8bn NHS repairs bill for existing NHS buildings.
Trust leaders have urged successive governments to widen access to strategic capital investment and ease restrictions on how much the NHS can spend on capital projects.
Doing so would help give NHS productivity a much-needed boost while also supporting essential hospital rebuilds which are critical to transforming services, improving safety, and delivering better quality of care for patients.
Saffron Cordery
Interim Chief Executive, NHS Providers, London SW1, UK
