The announcement covers capital spending as opposed to day-to-day running costs within the hospitals and the funding is in addition to the extra £20bn a year by 2023 which was announced by the government last year.
The £850m - spread over five years - will go towards funding the 20 hospital upgrades – including ward improvements and building repairs - while the remainder of the £1.8bn is expected to help clear a backlog of existing upgrade work and infrastructure projects.
Projects which will benefit will include providing new intensive care wards, children's units and mental health facilities for NHS hospitals throughout the UK.
In October, NHS Digital figures showed that NHS trusts had a backlog of around £6bn of repairs or replacements that needed carrying out.
Health think tank the Nuffield Trust said the latest funding, which is less than 1% of NHS England's annual budget, would "only be a fraction of what it would cost to really upgrade 20 hospitals".
Nigel Edwards, the Nuffield Trust's chief executive, added that it was a "down payment on the staggering £6bn needed to clear the backlog" of NHS maintenance.
However, he said it was encouraging to see money put towards capital funding - used for equipment and repairs - "which will help stop hospitals deteriorating even further".
The announcement comes after the Commons Public Accounts Committee announced earlier this year that fewer than half of NHS Trusts are meeting targets for carrying out elective care within 18 weeks of referral, and only 38% are offering cancer treatment within the required 62 days.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the upgrades "are just the start", and added that the government wanted to take a more "strategic" approach to capital spending, and move away from "piecemeal and uncoordinated" decisions.
The hospitals which will receive the additional funding are:
East of England
- Luton & Dunstable University Hospital NHS FT – £99.5 million for a new block in Luton to provide critical and intensive care, as well as a delivery suite and operating theatres.
- Norfolk & Norwich University Hospitals NHS FT – £69.7 million to provide Diagnostic and Assessment Centres in Norwich, Great Yarmouth and Kings Lynn to aid rapid diagnosis and assessment of cancer and non-cancerous disease.
- Norfolk and Suffolk NHS FT – £40 million to build 4 new hospital wards in Norwich, providing 80 beds.
- NHS South Norfolk CCG – £25.2 million to develop and improve primary care services in South Norfolk.
Midlands
- University Hospitals Birmingham – £97.1 million to provide a new purpose-built hospital facility in Birmingham, replacing outdated outpatient, treatment and diagnostic accommodation.
- United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust – £21.3 million to improve patient flow in Boston by developing urgent and emergency care zones in A&E.
- Wye Valley NHS Trust – £23.6 million to provide new hospital wards in Hereford, providing 72 beds. University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust – £17.6 million to create 3 new modern wards to improve capacity and patient flow in Stoke, delivering approximately 84 beds for this winter.
London
- Barking, Havering and Redbridge CCGs and North East London NHS Foundation Trust – £17 million to develop a new health and wellbeing hub in North East London.
- Croydon Health Services NHS Trust – £12.7 million to extend and refurbish critical care units at the Croydon University Hospital, Croydon.
North East and Yorkshire
- South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw Integrated Care System – £57.5 million for primary Care investment across South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw.
- The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust – £41.7 million to improve Paediatric Cardiac Services in the North East.
- Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust – £12 million to provide a single Laboratory Information Management System across West Yorkshire and Harrogate, covering all pathology disciplines.
North West
- Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust – £72.3 million to build a new adult mental health inpatient unit in Manchester.
- Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust – £33 million to provide a new 40 bed low secure unit for people with learning disabilities.
- Stockport NHS FT – £30.6 million to provide a new Emergency Care Campus Development at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport, incorporating an Urgent Treatment Centre, GP assessment unit and Planned Investigation Unit.
- NHS Wirral CCG – £18 million to improve patient flow in Wirral by improving access via the Urgent Treatment Centre.
- Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust – £16.3 million to provide Emergency and urgent care facilities at Tameside General Hospital in Ashton-under-Lyne.
South East
- Isle of Wight NHS Trust – £48 million to redesign acute services for Isle of Wight residents.
South West
- Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust – £99.9 million to build a new Women’s and Children’s Hospital in the centre of the Royal Cornwall Hospital site in Truro.