NHS England abolition will not impact Airedale Hospital and LGI redevelopments, officials say

Some of these functions are set to be moved to the Department for Health and Social Care, while half of the staff at the organisation, which is headquartered in Leeds, will lose their jobs.

NHS leaders have raised concerns about the impact of the huge reorganisation on Labour’s big ambitions for the health service.

One of the projects currently sitting within NHS England includes the Conservatives’ controversial New Hospital Programme, which promised to redevelop Airedale General Hospital, in Keighley, and a raft of modernisations and improvements at Leeds General Infirmary.

However, the Government has assured The Yorkshire Post that the reorganisation will not impact either of these projects.

“The timetable for the New Hospital Programme and construction of Airedale General Hospital remains unchanged,” a spokesperson said.

"Bringing NHS England into the department will reduce bureaucracy, make savings and allow the NHS to deliver better care to patients."

A building housing a state-of-the-art adults hospital, a new children’s hospital and a maternity centre was due to be constructed on the site of LGI and open in 2030, costing more than £650m.

A complete rebuild had been ordered for Airedale General Hospital by 2030, which was found to be at risk of collapse due to its construction with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).

Both these projects have been delayed, with the Health Secretary, Mr Streeting, saying Boris Johnson’s initial programme “was unfunded and undeliverable”.

The new timeline means construction will start on Airedale General Hospital in 2027 or 2028, and on the LGI development between 2032 and 2034.

The New Hospitals Programme originally sat within DHSC, the Government department which oversees the health service, but in 2023 was moved to NHS England.

As such, the number of Government staff working on delivering the projects dropped from 60 in March 2022 to just 22 in December 2024.

Now the programme, which has already been delayed multiple times, is set to be moved back to DHSC.

Mr Streeting has said the reorganisation involving NHS England should take just two years, however within the NHS there is scepticism about this timeline.

The Yorkshire Post understands that the process of moving staff over is likely to be highly complex, given the significantly higher average wages for staff at NHS England.

DHSC could not give more details about the transition yet, but said the government will work with staff, NHS leaders and trade unions over a process that is “transparent, protects services and minimises disruption”.

Speaking about the wider changes, Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, and Daniel Elkeles, incoming chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “This is the end of an era for the NHS and marks the biggest reshaping of its national architecture in a decade.

“Our members will understand the dynamics at play here, but it comes at an extremely challenging time, with rising demand for care, constrained funding and the need to transform services.

“History tells us this will cause disruption while the transition is taking place.”