PFI For £267m Hospital Build Will Drain Health Service, Says Union

The union representing Northern Ireland health care workers has blasted the government's financing of a £267m building contract for an Enniskillen hospital.

Earlier this week the department awarded the contract to a private consortium.

Unison has raised concerns over the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) scheme, which it says will drain the Department of Health's annual budget over the next 25 years.

However, the department has defended its decision, insisting the scheme provides the best value for money.

Unison’s Patricia McKeown has voiced "serious concerns about the project".


She said: "This is not a viable contract for the Private Finance Initiative, it's being built as a PFI but it doesn't meet the Treasury requirements.

"Therefore our health service is going to have to pump £23m a year into it for the next 25 years.

"It's going to have a knock-on effect to how health services are delivered, particularly in the western trust area because that money will eventually come out of the direct delivery of healthcare."

But a Health Department spokesman dismissed the figures quoted by Unison, suggesting there was "no substance" to the £23m estimates.

No payments would be made to the contractor until the hospital was completed and handed over to the trust, according to the representative.

"This project is expected to create in excess of 200 new construction jobs in the local area," added the spokesman.

See: £267m Enniskillen Hospital Contractor Appointed

(PR/JM)