Sad consequence of rising costs

The main driver of Hospital issues is Mr Blairs PFI splurge which was dodgy government accounting that became a massive taxpayer fraud

There's been a lot of covering up by the system and establishment

put simply

Instead of buying your hospital with a 2% government loan you bought your hospital with a private sector credit card which didn't show up as government debt in their accounts

but this saddled the taxpayer with huge credit card cash payments each year

The first big tranche of PFI contract expiry events is happening over the next 5-10 years and could make the situation even worse if its not dealt with properly

For every £100 they borrowed our government geniuses are paying back more than £500y

Edited By Ady1 on 01/07/2022 09:21:05

Why not use the bus when visiting the hospital, I'd rather spend the money on helping the sick than on car parking. Maybe the price rise of petrol will sort things out.

Can't disagree with Ady other than to point out PFI and PPP have been badly misused by both Labour and Conservative governments. Equally guilty, and neither has been held to account!

PFI was introduced by a Conservative government (PM Major) and much extended by Labour (PM Blair). The Labour government was much criticised for PFI spending by the Conservative opposition, accurately and correctly in my opinion. Unfortunately, despite knowing PFI was a serious waste of taxpayers money the Conservatives chose to carry on with PFI after they took power in 2010.

Something over £300bn borrowed at triple market rate or worse. Government borrowing was tightly controlled by UK and EU law, but if you wanted to get things done, PFI bypassed the rules. The advantage to the politicians was it enabled them to keep their supporters happy by spending more money on them. The left got more spending on public services, the right got tax cuts. Tax cuts and better public services are both good in their way, but not when funded by borrowing money at well over normal rates.

Dave

Ummmm, are we getting just a little "political" here?

I had to visit Dorset County Hospital, on two consecutive days, several years ago, for a heart-monitoring test. On Tuesday the hospital's P-&-D car-park was full, and I had to park a good quarter of a mile away in a housing-estate (but well away from homes).

Mentioning this to a nurse, she replied, "It's even worse on Wednesdays because that's Dorchester Market day and we get a lot of people using our car-park for that!"

I heeded her advice, so next day drove only part-way to Dorchester, to where I could readily park for free and complete the journey by a regular bus service that stops outside the hospital.

They are now building the hospital a multi-storey car-park with the twin advantages of being both architectural "carbuncle" (as Prince Charles might call it when visiting his "Poundbury" pseudo-village about a mile away) and more parking for the market bargain-seekers.