New hospitals plan upsets public health specialists |
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Fri, 18 Aug 2006 08:35
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LONDON - Public health specialists and hospitals all over England were upset with the Government after it announced that it would be building six new hospitals under the controversial private finance initiative (PFI) at an estimated cost of £1.5 billion.
According to the available plans, the hospitals are to come up in Leicester, Torbay in Devon, North Staffordshire, Tameside and Glossop, Salford and Walsall by 2010. However the plan has upset many public health specialists since it means that at least 10 major hospitals in England are either set for closure of major cutbacks.
However Andy Burnham, the Health Minister focused only on the news that new hospitals are coming up. “We are delighted to be able to give the go-ahead for these new hospitals. This is great news for the hundreds of thousands of patients who will benefit from the modern, bright new buildings," he said. “The new facilities will not only be the best in terms of design and quality, but they will be affordable well into the future.”
The six new hospitals will boast of more single rooms than conventional NHS hospitals with large public wards. The Times reports that according to the new plans, "Guy’s and St Thomas’ will lose £4.7 million, Bart’s and the London £3.7 million, the Royal Free £2.1 million and St George’s £2.2 million."
Understandably these hospitals, which are already facing severe financial crunch, are not very happy with further cutbacks. Geoff Martin of Health Emergency said that the Government was embarking on a move without thought, "For the Government to be signing off a new raft of PFI schemes, despite the fact we know they are extremely bad value, are a money-making racket for the private sector and provide poor quality facilities, flies in the face of any kind of rational thought process," he said.
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NHS crisis appears to be deepening as more hospitals announce job cuts 