The Government has opened just six of the 40 new hospitals in England it has promised under its New Hospital Programme (NHP), which was established in 2020.

NHS Providers said trusts in the NHP were having to fork out over £1m each month to patch up crumbling hospitals and called on the next Government to commit to the current programme.

Over 100 trusts applied to join the NHS with the current repairs bill standing at £11.6bn.

Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive, NHS Providers, called for a 'cast-iron commitment from all political parties to an NHS infrastructure programme that meets the needs of hospitals, mental health, community and ambulance services'.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: 'We continue to make good progress across our New Hospital Programme, with six new hospitals already open to patients. Two more are expected to open by the end of the financial year, and another 18 are under construction or have work ongoing to prepare the sites.

'On top of the expected £20bn for the New Hospital Programme, the government has invested £4.2bn this financial year to upgrade and modernise NHS buildings so staff have the facilities needed to provide world-class care for patients.

'We have also provided a further £1.7bn for over 70 hospital upgrades across England, alongside a range of nationally funded infrastructure improvements in mental health, urgent and emergency care and diagnostic capacity. We are working with each individual scheme on opportunities to progress as quickly as possible.'