06.02.12
Seven trusts get funding for PFI debt
£1.5bn funding will be available to ‘bail out’ seven NHS trusts struggling with debts caused, in part, by private finance initiative (PFI) repayments.
The subsidy will be available over the course of 25-year contracts and trusts must demonstrate improved efficiency and evidence of good care provision to access the money.
There are over 100 PFI schemes in the NHS, where private firms pay to build hospitals and the NHS pays back an annual fee. The Department of Health suggested that without this funding, services at the trusts could be at risk.
The seven trusts are: Barking, Havering and Redbridge; St Helens and Knowsley; South London;Peterboroughand Stamford; North Cumbria; Dartford and Gravesham; andMaidstoneand Tunbridge Wells.
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: “We need to balance the accountability of the NHS at local level to live within its means on one hand, with recognising that there is a legacy of debt for some trusts with PFI schemes.”
However, a Labour spokesperson said: “This announcement from the Government is a smokescreen on the day that the Royal College of GPs have come out against their Health Bill, joining the royal colleges of Radiologists, Nursing and Midwives in full opposition to their plans.”
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