THE Department of Health and Social Care has reportedly sounded out private investors to build health centres in England, which could see a return to the disastrous PFI scheme.
The Financial Times reports that Wes Streeting’s department is looking to secure investment for up to 200 neighbourhood health centres.
Long-term contracts to design, build and manage local NHS centres, with the aim to have one in every community by 2025, were reportedly set out in documents seen by the newspaper.
It appears to herald a return to Private Finance Initiatives (PFIs), initially brought in under John Major’s Tory government in the early 1990s, but became more prominent under Labour’s Tony Blair.
The scheme was heavily criticised due to the exorbitant bills that public bodies have been handed as a result, and whether or not they were actually effective.
They were scrapped in Scotland by Alex Salmond in 2007, with the Tory-run UK Government following suit in 2018. The National Audit Office, the public spending watchdog, found that PFIs cost taxpayers billions of pounds in extra costs with no visible benefit.
And now, it appears Keir Starmer’s Government is reportedly bringing the scheme back to life.
According to the FT, the PFI clinics would create a “one-stop shop” combining health care, voluntary and local authority services in one building.
It would aim to move care out of hospitals, with construction costs ranging from £10 million to £40m for each facility which would have a “standardised design”.
Ministers are understood to be considering new forms of public private partnership – such as the Mutual Investment Model in Wales.
The FT reports that at least two “market testing sessions” were held by the health department over summer. Deloitte, a management consultancy firm, and Addleshaw Goddard, a law firm, are understood to be working with the New Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority.
Land would be provided by the public sector, while private companies deliver facilities and contracts for between 25 and 30 years, the documents reportedly set out.
Health clinic services would be delivered by a single public sector organisation, which would charge tenants and manage the buildings.
A Department for Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “While no decisions have been made, it’s right that we look at a range of options to provide the best care for people across the country, especially in underserved, deprived or rural areas.”
The final decision on whether to go ahead with the clinics is expected to be revealed on November 26 in the Budget.
“Using PFI might seem like a good deal at the time, but the debt just grows and grows; then 25 years later, when it’s still not paid off, you’re left skint and scratching your head,” Johnbosco Nwogbo, lead campaigner at We Own It told the FT.
