"Ministers have handed firms 6m in contracts to help devise plans to build a network of new NHS clinics using private capital, despite fears the move could turn into a PFI-style disaster. The Department of Health and Social Care has awarded contracts worth 3m each to the management consultants Deloitte and the lawyers Addleshaw Goddard. They are advising the DHSC on whether to use public-private partnerships (PPPs) to help build dozens of the promised neighbourhood health centres in England."
"The firms have been hired to help to develop the business case for pressing ahead with doing so, design what form any PPP could take and draw up the financial modelling involved. In a hint that Labour may decide to join forces with private finance companies on the project, DHSC's remit to Deloitte and Addleshaw Goddard also includes potentially supporting [DHSC] through the procurement of the clinics, which initially will be in deprived parts of the country."
Ministers awarded 6m in contracts to Deloitte and Addleshaw Goddard to advise the Department of Health and Social Care on using public-private partnerships to build neighbourhood health centres. The firms will develop the business case, design potential PPP structures and prepare financial modelling, and may support procurement for initial sites in deprived areas. The government announced the first 43 centre locations and plans multidisciplinary services including doctors, nurses, pharmacists, social care staff and voluntary groups under one roof. Campaigners warn that private finance risks repeating expensive PFI-era mistakes that left the NHS owing more than 40bn in long-term repayments.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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