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The private companies profiting from patients

8:10am Friday 27th August 2010 in


SIR – Hospitals have been saddled with so much debt under the Government’s private finance initiative (PFI) that they are being forced to cut back on patient care.

Conservative and Labour governments have said that they used PFI – in which the NHS leases new hospitals from private contractors – because it would generate “efficiency savings”.

Under the scheme, NHS trusts are locked into 30-year deals with the construction firms that manage and maintain hospitals they have supplied. The repayments are non-negotiable.

Researchers from the King’s Fund thinktank have found the total debt of this “NHS mortgage” now stands at £65 billion. The hospitals themselves were worth just £11.3 billion when first built.

Worcestershire’s NHS faces the prospect of a £60 million funding gap by 2013/14. Catalyst, the PFI company that built Worcestershire Royal Hospital at a cost of £82 million, will be paid £720 million by taxpayers.

Will the people of Worcester tolerate cuts in the NHS while private companies continue to accumulate huge profits? Will Robin Walker MP remain silent on this scandalous waste of public money?

ALECIA FYFFE
Worcester

Comments(6)

PeterNielsen says...
3:04pm Fri 27 Aug 10

These PFI deals are traded, often selling for more than the original cost of the projects they finance. For example, buying the Worcestershire RH debt for £81m, you would still receive something like a 10% return on your investment for 30 years after meeting your service obligations under the PFI. Catalyst and the other PFI consortia are free to look for savings and efficiencies on their service obligations. However, if the hospital has to find savings of its own, these can not come from re-negotiating the PFI payment unless extremely high cancellation costs are paid, which would not be viable in the end. PFI payments have to be paid even if it means sacking so-called 'front-line' staffs. Practically speaking, PFI contracts can only be unravelled by legislation. Some hope of that!

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PeterNielsen says...
3:29pm Fri 27 Aug 10

One of the most nauseating aspects of PFI is this idea that the debt is not "on the (government's) books". The government pays for the NHS. The NHS pays the PFI consortia. How can this not be a government obligation? Does anyone in the international financial community's many institutions (IMF, World Bank, OECD etc) believe that the £65bn PFI debt can be disregarded in assessing the health of the British economy? I think not. This is the sort of fairy tale Gordon Brown economics that has left the country in its present predicament and the loss of a huge amount of tax-payer's money to prop up private finance here and across the globe.

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denon says...
4:48pm Sat 28 Aug 10

Unfortunately Robin Walker nor the other MPs in Worcestershire (remember its is Worcestershire's hospital ...not Worcester's hospital) cannot do anything, since it was Michael Foster and his labour government who rushed in and signed the agreement without understanding the consequences.

The previous Conservative government had been unwilling to sign the deal.

So Alecia we in Worcestershire knew what was coming and your repetition of facts and analysis is right as is yours Peter...there is no solution...default on the payments and the lawyers will make a mint.

Those who signed or encouraged the signing need to be held to account from Blair and Frank Dobson. THe latter is still an MP and was Secretary of State for Health who sanctioned the deal so he is s the most guilty party .

The duty of Worcestershires' MPs is to make these people face the consequences..

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Common Sense says...
10:43pm Sat 28 Aug 10

What price do you put on "instant hospitals" and health?

Maybe we should start moderate charges, for those "not resident here for at least 10 years" or some appropriate criteria?

We should certainly charge for those coming in from europe and overseas for free treatment - which we all pay for!

You can't do it in their countries - you pay up front!

CS.

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denon says...
8:16am Sun 29 Aug 10

Ypu don't pay up front everywhere

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PeterNielsen says...
1:25pm Sun 29 Aug 10

Common Sense wrote:
What price do you put on "instant hospitals" and health? Maybe we should start moderate charges, for those "not resident here for at least 10 years" or some appropriate criteria? We should certainly charge for those coming in from europe and overseas for free treatment - which we all pay for! You can't do it in their countries - you pay up front! CS.
The European Health Insurance Card available from the NHS will guarantee you free state medical treatment in any EU country. It does not cover private treatment or travel home. To get one (free), Google European Health Insurance Card.

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