Six PFI hospitals given go-ahead

31 Aug 06
The Department of Health has approved six delayed Private Finance Initiative hospital schemes after a review found that savings of £400m could be made.

01 September 2006

The Department of Health has approved six delayed Private Finance Initiative hospital schemes after a review found that savings of £400m could be made.

The six projects — in North Staffordshire, Tameside and Glossop, Salford, Walsall, South Devon and Leicester — will together involve £1.5bn capital investment. Their final go-ahead follows nine months of delays while the DoH assessed whether the plans were affordable and in keeping with proposals to transfer some hospital treatments to a community setting.

Announcing the decision, health minister Andy Burnham said: 'This is great news for the hundreds of thousands of patients who will benefit from modern, bright new buildings. The new facilities will not only be the best in terms of design and quality, but they will be affordable well into the future.'

A DoH spokesman told Public Finance the savings were made through a variety of changes to the original plans. The DoH expects the first new hospital to open in 2010.

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