Whittington hospital paying five times over for refurb (Islington Liberal Democrats)

Islington Liberal Democrats <Islington_ld@cix.co.uk>

Whittington hospital paying five times over for refurb

February 17, 2010 10:00 PM

Local Councillors and campaigners joined Bridget Fox and Norman Lamb MP to support the Save the Whittington campaign

Figures uncovered by the Liberal Democrats have revealed that the Whittington Hospital is facing a £158 million bill for refurbishment works worth only £32 million - paying five times over for new facilities. This burden of long-term debt is a key reason behind the proposals to close down accident and emergency facilities at the hospital.

Under the Private Finance Initiative established by Gordon Brown when he was Chancellor, a 30-year contract with a private consortium was signed for the refurbishment of facilities at Whittington Hospital. The total capital value of these works is £32 million, but the Whittington NHS Trust will be paying millions of pounds every year until 2036 - when it will have paid five times the actual value.

The PFI scheme was used by Gordon Brown to keep massive NHS debts off the Government's balance sheet, but means that now the NHS is facing a huge debt crisis and will pay many times over the value of new hospitals and refurbishments. Nationally, the health service faces a £63 billion debt for PFI hospitals worth £11 billion.

Local hospital campaigner Cllr Rhodri Jamieson-Ball commented:

"These figures reveal how disastrous Labour's stewardship of the NHS has been, thanks mainly to Gordon Brown's financial incompetence. Gordon Brown's desperate attempt to keep all this debt out of the official figures means that our local hospital is paying five times what the works are actually worth.

"It's no wonder vital services at the Whittington are being threatened with the axe. Our hospital - and the entire NHS - has been lumbered with a millstone of unsustainable long-term debt. This Government's main legacy is a mountain of debt, and we're all going to be paying off Labour's credit cards for years."