More PFI defects

by Laura Hailstone



A catalogue of design problems at the newly built Calderdale Royal Hospital, West Yorkshire, has sparked further concern over the suitability of PFI for major healthcare schemes

Calderdale is the first Bovis Lend Lease project to be completed under PFI. "We consider Calderdale a success. Yes, there were teething problems but we addressed these and learnt very strong lessons," said Andrew Bond, spokesman for Bovis.

"The design problems at Calderdale would, I'm sure, have been encountered whether the hospital had been financed via PFI or publicly funded."

Calderdale's defects included glass panels falling from an overhead canopy, soaring temperatures in some of the wards, and the 614 beds being short of requirements. Meanwhile the cost has reportedly increased from £76m to £103m.

The Department of Health (DoH) said the teething problems experienced at Calderdale were "typical of any new large building project".

"The design faults were not related to it being a PFI-built hospital," said a DoH spokesman. "The number of beds would have been decided long before the funding option had been chosen."

The spokesman added that no new hospital projects will be signed off unless the bed numbers meet or exceed the trusts' requirements.

Rob Gill, PFI project manager at United Medical Enterprises (UME), which has been a major participant in the first wave of PFI projects as both investor and service provider, said: "The design process includes individual room design that is signed off by the Trust, therefore any faults are all in accordance with what the Trust has agreed to."