Call to stop ghost hospital payments
Labour has demanded NHS Lothian freezes £1.4million a mont h repayment s on Edinburgh’s sick kids’ hospital.
The health board has been criticised over the huge sums being shelled out to private finance consortium Integrated Health Solutions Lothian despite the Royal Hospital for Sick Children failing to open over serious safety concerns.
Labour health spokeswoman Monica Lennon said: “It’s ridiculous that NHS Lothian is still forking out millions of pounds in monthly payments to a private consortium for a faulty hospital that hasn’t treated a single patient.
“The new sick kids’ hospital is badly needed but the SNP Health Secretary admits it will be late 2020 before it is safe.
“The NHS was created to serve the people but only private shareholders are benefiting from this hospital.
“It’s time these exorbitant payments were halted.
“Labour would scrap the SNP’s version of PFI for good.”
A public inquiry was ordered last month after patients were unable to move into the new facility in July.
Every month, £1.4million of taxpayers’ money is being paid to IHSL. NHS Lothian’s finance director, Susan Goldsmith, ruled out halting the payments.
She said: “To meet our contractual responsibilities, financial payments are and will continue to be made.”
IHSL was set up by Nicola Sturgeon’s Scottish Futures Trust using a PFI-style model cr it icised as del iver ing substandard, overpriced public buildings.
IHSL is led by Australian bank Macquarie, a firm criticised for generating £392million on the M6 toll road in 2006.
A spokesman for the Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said: “This is incredible hypocrisy from the Labour Party. Every year, £ 240million is spent on PFI/ PPPs for NHS buildings started under their administrations.”