oh dear: PFI schemes 'to cost NHS £53bn'

[tim123]

It doesn't actually matter who suggested the initial idea. It matters who gave the go ahead for a particular scheme and the terms, conditions and costs associated with it. £56bln does not seem a fair price to pay for an investment of £8bln.

Actually, I think it does matter who started it as the problem with this PFI convey belt is that once you start using it for projects it is difficult to get off. But that's a long explaination that I don't have time for.

But back to the 8 bil v 56 bil discussion. This is an apples and oranges comparison (or rather an apples and oranges plus pag to put them in plus salary for person who carries the bag comparison).

The 8 bil is only the cost of building the building. The 56 bil is the cost of building it, plus the total cost of running it for 30 years. Its just political spin.

tim

[BoredBloke]

"Actually, I think it does matter who started it as the problem with this PFI convey belt is that once you start using it for projects it is difficult to get off."

The point I was making was a bad idea is a bad idea - It doesn't matter who suggested the idea, if it is bad then it is bad. So because the Tories proposed a bad idea in 1992, does that mean that NL cannot be held accountable for using it in 2006?

So effectively what you are saying is that to build x number of hospitals it will cost £8bln. To run them for the next 30 years will cost another £46bln. Presumably that is just the maintenance of the hospital and its other running costs - not the costs associated with treating the patients since that is a NHS cost.

I heard an example where a a PFI trust wanted a white board moving from one wall to the other in the same office. They were quoted over £2k to move it and a further £50 per year to maintain it

[Stan]

Yes this is one of the main problems, if you are a PFI school/hospital you have to go through the company in the contract even if they are charging you £300 to change a lightbulb.

[wendigo100]

HMG use PFI to keep debt off the balance of payments. Imagine how much worse they would be without PFI.

[hyperD]

HMG use PFI to keep debt off the balance of payments. Imagine how much worse they would be without PFI.

HMG use PFI to keep debt off the balance of payments. Imagine how much tax we're going to have to give to pay for it all.