Vanguard hospital PFI falls prey to DH review

PFI hospital schemes are continuing to suffer from the fall-out of the Department of Health’s (DH) review (CJ 11 January).

The revamped Plymouth Hospitals Vanguard PFI project, which was due to be relaunched this month in the form of two separate contracts worth a combined £600m, has been postponed.

A spokeswoman told CJ: “We were all ready to go, but have been told we can go no further until the DH concludes its review. So we are in another waiting game.” She added that the team is confident the scheme will pass through the review unscathed.

However, industry sources say the DH private finance unit is running the rule over the Trust’s plans to build a £200m care centre as part of the package. They claim officials are questioning whether the centre can cope with competition from NHS LIFT and independent sector treatment centres.

This is just one of a series of delays that have dogged the Vanguard project. The original scheme collapsed last year when Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust baulked at going with single bidder Medico Vanguard (Amey/Ferrovial), after rivals Multiplex and Bonaventure both withdrew.

The £300m redevelopment of Hillingdon Hospital and Mount Vernon Hospital is also under question. A spokesman for the Hillingdon NHS Hospital Trust told CJ: “We were hoping to go to OJEU this month, so the review will impact on our timetable as that is now not possible. Under the review, the DH is reviewing our outline business case. It will check our activity assumptions and our affordability assumptions.” He added that the Trust is confident of  a positive outcome.