NHS mortgage

Standard shoddy reporting by the Bitchy Boys in this article on the other Brit sacred cow:

The NHS in England faces a total bill of £65bn for new hospitals built under the private finance initiative (PFI), figures obtained by the BBC [from where?] indicate. The so-called "NHS mortgage" [who calls it that?] means that for some trusts annual repayments take up more than 10% of their turnover. Economists [what economists and how qualified to comment?] said the fees, which rise each year, would make it harder to achieve savings while doctors [what doctors and how qualified to comment?] said they would mean less money for patient care.

But the government said [in what statement, by whom?] that the 103 schemes were providing value for money. [This is of course the money shot - all stories must be bent to attack a government that might reduce or abolish the TV tax that funds the BBC]

Under the schemes, private firms pay for and build new hospitals and mental health units, leaving the NHS to pay off what is effectively its mortgage [that is precisely what it is] over a period of 30 or so years. The data shows that the value [define value - are we talking cost or utility?] of the projects when they were built was £11.3bn. However, over the lifetime of the deals, the NHS is due to pay back £65.1bn [in constant £ value?], once extra costs such as maintenance, cleaning and catering are taken into account [which would have been incurred anyway in the old premises].

Superficial, misleading and spiteful crap. I'm sure the PFI initiatives are open to scrutiny on the value for money front, but the fault lies in bureaucratic incompetence and presumptive corruption, which would be (and were known to be previously) even more notorious if the projects were handled entirely within the state sector.