Tippethill House Hospital has been operating as one of Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contracts with ‘buy back’ clauses established by the previous UK Labour Government when Tony Blair was Prime Minister. The controversial financing option meant the upfront cost of building public buildings such as schools and hospitals was covered by the private sector in return for repayments which were to cover the cost of building and maintaining the sites. However, at the end of the repayment period some buildings such as Tippethill still required the public purse to buy them back if the operators in this case NHS Lothian/ West Lothian Council through the West Lothian Health and Social Care Partnership wanted to own them outright.
Commenting Fiona said:
“Tippethill House Hospital in Armadale, in my Constituency, is operated under a PFI contract with annual costs to NHS Lothian of approximately £1 million.
“PFI contracts issued by Tony Blair’s Labour Government have resulted in public bodies paying over the odds to use these buildings.
“The SNP Government recognised this as an unnecessary expense and replaced such contracts with non-profit alternatives.
“Tippethill is one of 11 PFI contracts identified by BBC News Scotland as having a ‘buy back’ clause. Facilities built using a PFI contract are typically handed back to the public body using them at the end of the contract, however, ‘buy back’ clauses require payment to the PFI provider for the public body to take full control of the building when the contract ends.
“Tippethill House Hospital, in my Constituency, is coming to the end of their PFI contract and the building is now facing closure due to the building contract issued under the Labour Government adding extra cost and making the decision to centralise services inevitable which is unfair to my elderly Constituents and their families in the north of the County.”
ENDS
Link to BBC story – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-66543735