Joining Lansley’s dots
Conveniently in time for Labour’s conference, Lansley has come to the shocking conclusion that PFI costs at 22 hospitals may be unaffordable.
Presumably, Lansley is banking on us all having short memories, and hoping that we’ve forgotten the main reason these costs may be unaffordable.
I haven’t.
As I reported here, this is the main reason the PFI costs are unaffordable:
compounded over the five years for which [NHS] Monitor has published projections, the efficiency target for hospitals is 37 per cent [from May 2011].
Lansley’s new “findings” are nothing more than a precursor to the announcement of foreclosure on these parts of the NHS Estate.
This is what the Health Service Journal said in April:
The numbers are more than just a description of the financial pressures faced by the NHS, however. They are also the figures the regulator will use from May 1 to assess the robustness of applications from NHS hospitals to become independent foundation trusts and for any takeovers planned.
By, in effect, raising the bar for those assessments, Monitor may have made it more likely that struggling NHS organisations will be offered to private companies rather than merged with existing foundation trusts.
The firesale has now been announced.
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