Health bosses to ask Government to fund stalled hospital
HEALTH bosses are to ask the Government to step in and pay for the completion of the stalled £350 million Midland Metropolitan Hospital.
The Board of Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Health Trust is being asked to back the move at its meeting today (Thursday).
If accepted, the trust will ask the Treasury for £150 million to finish construction, of which £25 million is needed to weatherproof the two thirds completed building.
The project was halted in January this year when the hospital’s private finance partner and builder, Carillion, went bankrupt.
At that time Prime Minister Theresa May gave an assurance in the House of Commons that the Metropolitan would be completed.
The recommendation for public funding comes after months of negotiations with construction companies for a replacement private finance package.
But health bosses are now saying a taxpayer funded solution is the best option if the hospital is to be finished by 2022.
Toby Lewis, chief executive of the trust, said board members were being advised to support a government cash injection.
“We will consider an executive recommendation to complete the Midland Metropolitan Hospital construction under direct contract, using public money from national sources. This would be in preference to procuring a new private finance vehicle,” he said.
“The board opted for private finance in 2014, and again in early 2018 when we considered that an option existed to refinance the existing vehicle. That option was not accepted.”
He added: “Moreover, the challenges to completing a part built facility require that we retain more latent risk, and in those circumstances the public financed option is narrowly preferred.
“If the board agrees this recommendation we will share that view with national stakeholders whose decision it will be in coming weeks.”
Over the last few months political pressure to get the Treasury to pay for the costs of completion have been mounting.
Adrian Bailey, MP for West Bromwich West, has called on the Government to pay for the project and Sandwell councillors have said local people desperately need the new state-of-the-art hospital.