What does the NHS need from MPs and ministers to work better and support growth?
Our submission to the Business and Trade Committee outlined recommendations for attracting new private investment into the NHS, to build and rebuild health centres and hospitals.
Summary of our recommendations:
· The Government should expand its proposed Public Private Partnership (PPP) programmes in social infrastructure beyond Neighbourhood Health Centres and decarbonisation projects to rebuild Britain and drive growth. PPPs deliver faster than the public sector, and on time and on budget. PPPs built 90 hospitals in a decade, only five have been built under the non-PPP New Hospital Programme - and by the end of the 25 year programme 45 will be built, half the number under PFI in over twice the time.
· The NHS LIFT programme provides a ready-made solution to accelerate delivery of new health centres and attract more private investment. The Government wants to deliver 120 Neighbourhood Health Centres by 2030 - PPPs are a way to do that “on time and on budget”.
· Extending existing contracts is a fast and effective way, in a capital constrained environment, of making a demonstrable improvement to social infrastructure and growth in this parliament. That could mean new wards, new equipment, or retrofitting buildings for Net Zero.
· The Government should consider ways to improve and simplify the PPP model, including developing jointly appointed independent certifiers throughout construction to ensure impartial oversight and quality, and making unitary charges more transparent to hold contractors accountable.
· Reducing adversarial contract management in the NHS would reassure the international investment community, reduce the burden on business and could increase investment in the UK, which is the lowest in the G7.
Building on this, the CBI (Confederation of British Industry) also submitted their evidence, including calling for the Government to "deploy a wider mix of PPP models to crowd in private finance for building and maintaining new infrastructure assets."
Read more (Parliament website).