In October 2006 it was revealed that the NHS will have to pay a total of £53 billion to private firms involved in hospital PFI contracts. Under the ‘PFI’ term, the private sector companies building the new hospital and facilities will collect rent from the NHS over a period of thirty years.
It is expected that the government will shorten the length of the hospital PFI contracts to 10 – 15 years. This would answer some of the controversy over the size of payments to the private sector and provide trusts with an opportunity to replace the consortium if they are dissatisfied with their performance.
PFI schemes over £500 million would have longer contracts to ensure that the consortium is sufficiently rewarded for taking on so much risk, but 25 – 35 years is likely to become the exception rather than the rule.
