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.”
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