PRIVATE Finance Initiatives are becoming increasingly common ways to fund large developments. Swindon's Great Western Hospital, which cost £150m and opened in December 2002 was funded in this way.
However, they are not without controversy. Some schemes end up costing two or three times the original amount and there is no guarantee that the developer will stay in business throughout the duration of the contract.
Critics claim that PFI schemes are almost like mortgaging the future. But they are often the only way organisations are able to afford grand developments.
Last year health workers' union Unison conducted a series of interviews with hospital staff to produce the report Not So Great Voice from the Front Line of the Great Western Private Finance Initiative Hospital.
It contained a catalogue of complaints on everything from poor food and heating problems to serious design faults.
But a hospital spokesman said the reality was PFI allowed the Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust to build a hospital that they would otherwise have not been able to afford.
North Swindon MP Michael Wills said: "What matters is that the scheme delivers the best value for money for the public.
"As far as we can tell, the Great Western Hospital seems to be a good example of how a PFI scheme can deliver and let us hope the same is true of the new divisional police headquarters."
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