How many hospitals are in Kemi Badenoch’s constituency? It depends on who you ask

At this week’s Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir Starmer mentioned new scanners being installed in “two hospitals in the constituency of the Leader of the Opposition”. Kemi Badenoch replied: “Perhaps the Prime Minister knows something I do not, because there is only one hospital in my constituency.”

This exchange has prompted some social media users to question whether Mrs Badenoch was correct, as her North West Essex constituency includes Broomfield Hospital and Saffron Walden Community Hospital, both of which she has visited in recent years.

We have contacted Mrs Badenoch’s office for clarification and will update this article if we hear back. But journalists from Politico and the Sun on Sunday report Conservative sources have suggested that, in this context, community hospitals don’t meet the usual definition of the word ‘hospital’.

Should this be the case, it seems to represent a change from the former Conservative administration under PM Boris Johnson, which included several community hospitals when it announced plans to build 40 new hospitals. In addition, the Community Hospitals Association says the services offered may vary, but refers to them as “small local hospitals”.

Under the current government, the New Hospital Programme, announced by health secretary Wes Streeting in January 2025, also includes at least two community hospitals—Shotley Bridge and Bexhill.

We’ve written previously about the former government’s plan to build 40 new hospitals, and we’re currently monitoring progress on Labour’s pledge to double the number of CT and MRI scanners in the NHS in our Government Tracker here.