Plymouth hospital PFI resuscitated

The ailing £330m Plymouth Vanguard Hospital PFI scheme is to be resuscitated as at least two separate new build PFI contracts.

The original scheme collapsed earlier this year when Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust baulked at going with single bidder Medico Vanguard (Amey/Ferrovial), after rivals Multiplex and Bonaventure both pulled out.

Vanguard project director Andy Ibbs said being left with a single bidder had forced a review of the plans, resulting in an improved proposal that would be "more attractive to companies interested in bidding".

The Trust has gone back to the drawing board, taking account of bidders’ qualms about the amount of refurbishment involved. The new plans see 80% of the original refurbishment programme stripped out and replaced with new build. The scheme will be split into at least two separate PFI contracts.

The care centre on the Derriford site will now be let separately, probably by the end of the summer, and is valued at £200m. Plans to expand the emergency and specialist services at the Derriford Hospital building are still being worked up and the scheme is not expected to be advertised until next year. However, the scheme is expected to be more expensive than the original and to contain very little refurbishment work.

New community facilities are also planned, which could be delivered under NHS LIFT.

The revised plans are set to go before local Primary Care Trusts and the Strategic Health Authority this month for approval.

Both Medico Vanguard and Bonaventure, which put its decision to withdraw down to the amount of refurbishment involved, are expected to show interest in the new deal.