§ Mr. HarveyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the average unit cost to the NHS of a new hospital bed in(a) an existing district general hospital, (b) a new district general hospital paid for exclusively by public money, (c) a new district general hospital paid for exclusively by private money and (d) a new district hospital paid for through a PFI scheme; and if he will make a statement.[126059]
§ Mr. DenhamThe information requested is not held centrally but an indicative capital cost of creating a new hospital bed place in a new hospital is approximately £325,000 (excluding Value Added Tax) at current prices. The cost includes the capital construction cost, equipment costs and professional fees incurred as well as a proportion of the costs of the supporting services within the new hospital such as operating theatres, outpatient departments, accident and emergency services, catering, office accommodation, public areas, pharmacy, pathology and radiology. It does not include the running costs necessary to make the bed operational, such as staffing, linen or cleaning.
61WEvery hospital is designed to meet specific local needs, so no two will be the same, and future hospitals may have different functions and departments. It is not therefore possible from available information to give the average capital cost of providing a new bed in an existing hospital. The cost of upgrading or adapting an inpatient ward within an existing hospital should not exceed a maximum of 70 per cent. of the cost of new provision and would generally be a much lower percentage.
Under private finance initiative rules it is the responsibility of consortium bidders to cost an overall design, construction and service solution. One element of this will be the number, type and layout of hospital beds. Because costing and pricing factors will vary between PFI projects to reflect factors like design innovation, greenfield build or refurbishment and competitive pressures in the private sectors supply chain, it is not possible to provide a unit cost for a hospital bed built under PFI.