Press release: NHS Confederation respond to Government PFI announcement

18 Aug 2006

Commenting on the Department of Health's announcement of the go-ahead for six new NHS hospitals under PFI, Andrew Lloyd-Kendall, Policy Manager at the NHS Confederation, said:

"We welcome the decision to allow these key PFI projects to proceed in order to deliver much needed health facilities for their local communities. 

"However, we must make sure that the short-term cost-savings of these PFI schemes are balanced against the need to deliver long-term quality health services. In particular, where services will now be shifted from the hospital setting into the community, any new or enhanced community facilities need to be put in place before the new PFI hospital opens. 

"Furthermore, hospital trusts will want to make sure that where buildings have been redesigned as a result of this review, the new project still offers the flexibility in design and scope to allow for future changes in healthcare delivery over the next 30 years and beyond.

"The PFI re-appraisal exercise has been a helpful reminder to local health economies that major investment projects need to be planned for a wide range of possible future scenarios of how and where healthcare is delivered. It is important that large-scale projects of this kind are continually reviewed throughout the planning and procurement stages, to avoid the uncertainty, delay, and loss of enthusiasm created for both the NHS and private sector bidding teams from a lengthy external evaluation. 

"The Department of Health needs to complete its appraisal of the remaining major PFI schemes as quickly as possible, so that staff, patients and the public can benefit from the new developments as soon as possible."

ENDS

Notes for editors

The NHS Confederation represents more than 90% of the organisations that make up the NHS. Its members include the majority of NHS acute trusts, ambulance trusts, foundation trusts, mental health trusts, primary care trusts, special health authorities and strategic health authorities in England; trusts and local health boards in Wales; and health and social service trusts and boards in Northern Ireland.

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