Service Funding Options for Health Community
Posted on: Saturday, 5 July 2008, 00:00 CDT
Nhs services are increasingly being provided by private companies, but some experts believe this could be damaging to the health service in the future.
In Derby, two new hospitals are being built through Private Finance Initiatives (PFIs) - the pounds334m superhospital at Derby City General and the new older people's mental health unit at Kingsway Hospital.
PFI means the total cost of the building work is covered by a private company.
Once work is completed the NHS begins leasing the buildings while paying off the cost of the development in monthly instalments over a period of several decades, until eventually the debt is paid off and the NHS takes full ownership of the buildings.
Derby Hospitals NHS Trust has said that PFI is the best option to fund such a huge development but Andy Belfield, regional spokesman for trade union Unison, said the Government should be funding new hospitals instead.
He said: "PFI is like buying a house on a credit card, it just doesn't make sense and will cost the NHS more money in the long run, because the Government can borrow money more cheaply than any private company."
Private companies are also starting to run GP practices. In Derby, two practices, Vidia Surgery, based at the NHS walk-in centre, and Normanton Medical Centre, are run by a large private company called United Health Primary Care.
John Grenville (pictured), secretary of Derbyshire Medical Committee and a GP at Macklin Street Surgery in Derby, is worried about the effects this could have.
He said: "Surgeries run by GP partners can change and react quickly to the needs of their patients, but when large private companies get involved then decisions about the surgery could be made in a boardroom miles away by people who don't know the local area at all."
(c) 2008 Derby Evening Telegraph. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: Derby Evening Telegraph
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