PFI-funded Hospital Building Programmes

HC Deb 21 November 2000 vol 357 cc159-60W

24. Mr. Webb

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effect of PFI-funded hospital building programmes on the number of NHS beds available in the areas affected. [137660]

Mr. Denham

Bed numbers at new hospitals are decided by local commissioners and clinicians well before the decision on whether to use PFI or the traditional public capital route to actually build them.

However, in the light of the National Beds Inquiry, we have reviewed all schemes over –10 million nearing approval stage, under construction or completed—both PFI and publicly funded—to examine the balance between in-patient general and acute beds and the planned provision of intermediate care services.