Independent review of Worcester PFI is needed

Editor—We at Worcestershire Local Medical Committee wish to refute McCloskey's assertions on the cost of the private finance initiative (PFI) hospital scheme in Worcester.¹ We have had major anxieties about the strategic review of health care in Worcestershire and the Worcester PFI project. We have been unable to obtain the clarification we seek from the health authority and have welcomed expert independent assessment of the issues.

Last summer the local medical committee asked for an independent review, a request that was rejected by the Department of Health and Worcestershire Health Authority. An adjournment debate was held in Parliament on 25 July 2000, at which serious concerns were raised and important questions asked that were never satisfactorily answered. A review has now taken place as part of the national bed inquiry, whose findings confirmed our fears that there would be too few beds in Worcestershire in the short, medium, and long term. The report produced by McCloskey himself states that there will be a deficiency of 90 beds when the new Worcester PFI hospital opens. It should be noted that even this figure is disputed and could be as high as 200, according to some senior managers in the acute trust.

In this era of supposed open government it should be of great concern that major decisions on healthcare provision are made in such a way that even local general practitioners are not fully informed, which results in them being misled. We need more independent review and analysis. Pollock et al in their electronic response should be commended for raising important issues and bringing the debate into the public arena. There are serious concerns regarding PFI that need to be debated. We at Worcestershire Local Medical Committee do not wish to see other areas of the county left in a similar state to ours. The wider NHS must learn from our experiences