Watchdog warns on PFI profits

A report last month from the public finance watchdog the National Audit Office reveals the scale of profits made by companies in one of the first health sector Private Finance Initiative (PFI) projects.

Darent Valley Hospital in Kent was opened in 2000. In 2003 the PFI consortium re-financed the project making £37 million. The Trust shared in some of the profits, but only by agreeing to extend the contract by seven years.

Dave Prentis, general secretary of public services union UNISON, said the report was "proof positive" of the "obscene profits" being made from PFI deals.