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1/13 Important new NHS capital commitment announced this morning. We've led the calls for more NHS capital so we strongly welcome the announcement. Important to place in appropriate context so have posted full thoughts below in a 13 tweet thread. Formal reaction attached. 
2/13 @NHSProviders has led calls for more capital to rebuild our NHS so today's @MattHancock announcement v welcome. Particularly for patients & staff at the 6 hospitals who will benefit from the new £2.7bn to be spent between 2020-2025. These will be big new full schemes.
3/13 We welcome intention to fund another 21 new hospital schemes in 2025-30 & £100m seed capital to start developing these. We note actual funding to complete these schemes remains to be formally allocated. Also welcome extra £200m for diagnostic equipment, trailed on Friday.
4/13 Clear logic - seek to build successive five year waves of major estate replacement. Go with schemes immediately ready and give NHS time and money needed to fully and robustly work up next wave schemes, ensuring best use of money and right capability/capacity in place.
5/13 Important to remember that NHS doesn't have any set capital budget beyond 2020/21 so we'll need to take it on trust, for the moment, that this extra £3bn for 2020-25 really is in addition to what would otherwise have been allocated (e.g. existing DHSC capital baseline)....
6/13 We're very keen to see the spread of the 21 extra schemes. We're hoping that, despite the constant use of the word hospital, they will include community, mental health and ambulance schemes. Their needs are just as great as acute hospitals.
7/13 Important to place today's announcement in proper context. NHS capital has been hugely squeezed since 2010. £6bn maintenance backlog, £3bn safety critical. Massive rebuilding need. Also need to transform care and invest in IT / digital to deliver new NHS long term plan....
8/13 ...We believe current NHS capital budget of c£6 billion a year needs to double over next 5-10 years to catch up from squeeze and meet NHS need. That would match current capital spend in comparable countries, ensure safe care and help create right environment for staff....
9/13 Today's new £3bn over 5 years = say, £600m a year = rough average 10% annual growth on current NHS capital budget. So good and valuable step forward. Certainly clearer and bigger commitment than May Government. But a long long way to go to meet NHS need.
10/13 So we're going to continue calling for a proper, formal, adequate, multi year, NHS capital settlement for a minimum of five, ideally ten, years. So we can, for example, be sure how the funding for the 21 new schemes announced today fits alongside other capital needs.....
11/13 We'll want to ensure that there is the right balance of investment across all the NHS's different capital needs. Important, for example, that we don't spend too much of a fixed capital budget on new replacement hospitals, vitally important though those are.
12/13 This is the latest in a string of welcome national NHS capital announcements. But they don't provide a long term, sustainable, approach to NHS capital allocation and prioritisation. It can't be right to have NHS capital dependent on sporadic Govt led announcements....
13/13 NHS needs clear multi year capital allocation with prioritisation for all but biggest schemes (e.g. £100m+) done at local / regional level. Decisions made on known timetable matched to NHS planning process. That maximises chance of £ being best used & meeting biggest need.
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