A Conservative pledge to build 40 new hospitals by the end of the decade -including one in Norfolk - is in jeopardy, it has been claimed.
The commitment to build the new hospitals by 2030 was one of the key planks of Boris Johnson's 2019 general election manifesto.
However, the Liberal Democrats said details obtained through parliamentary questions and Freedom of Information (FOI) requests showed the programme was behind schedule and the target was almost certain to be missed.
They said just 10 have so far received full planning permission.
And time is running out for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), in King's Lynn, which experts say will be unsafe to use by 2030.
The QEH, whose roof is held up by more than 3,000 props, is still waiting to hear whether it will be given a go-ahead for a rebuild on what is currently its car park. The roof of the 500-bed hospital was built with an expected working life of 30 years in the late 1970s.
Jo Rust, from the King's Lynn Trades Council, has been campaigning for a new hospital. She said: "The decision about which hospitals will be funded for a rebuild has been delayed time and time again.
"But time is running out for the QEH, which must have a new building up and running by 2030 if we don’t want to lose services there."
A decision was hinted at two or three times in the autumn but never materialised.
Before Christmas, NHS sources and politicians both said it would be early in the New Year.
North West Norfolk Conservative MP James Wild said: "Norfolk and Waveney has already received £11m to tackle discharges, which is making a difference.
"This additional funding is welcome, but do these pressures not also underline to the Treasury the long-term importance of investing in modern hospitals that are able to meet demand and the case for including the QEH in the new hospitals programme?"
Following the details of the FOI, the Lib Dems said that only 10 hospitals had received permission to begin work, while some had not even received outline planning permission.
Deputy leader Daisy Cooper said the failure meant communities would be left to struggle on with crumbling facilities that were badly in need of updating.
She added: "This is truly scandalous. The Conservative Government is on course to break their flagship NHS promise and refuse to admit it.
"Communities already suffering from dangerously long ambulance waiting times are also left with crumbling hospitals which are falling apart at the seams.
"Time and time again Conservative health ministers are hiding the truth from the country. Their big promises have been shown to not be worth the paper they are written on."
The Department of Health and Social Care said that it was working with the NHS trusts concerned to ensure an early start to building where possible.
It said the programme groups the different schemes into "cohorts" based on an assessment of their readiness and the extent to which they can benefit from the advantages of delivery through a national programme.
A spokesperson said: "We are investing £3.7 billion for the first four years of the New Hospital Programme and remain committed to all schemes that have been announced as part of it.
"Requirements for planning permission are dependent on construction timelines over the decade and we continue to work closely with trusts on their plans.
"We are developing a national approach to constructing new hospitals so schemes can be built more rapidly and ensure value for money."
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