CRITICISMS of privately funded projects such as Swindon's new Great Western Hospital have been rejected by a Swindon MP.

Julia Drown, MP for South Swindon, spoke out as the issue came under debate during the Labour Party conference in Blackpool.

She says it is still too early to tell if Private Finance Initiatives represent the best way to fund future hospitals and schools in the country.

She said: "Private finance initiative is giving us new methods of delivering things to the NHS.

"It is a very complex issue and I think we should be wary of adopting a dogmatic approach which suggests that we should not have private funding."

Reacting to calls by unions for an independent review of PFI, a cornerstone of the Government's programme of investment in health and education, Ms Drown said it was important to remain open minded.

"In Swindon we are looking forward to having a new hospital built under a PFI scheme," she said. "The advantage is that if something goes wrong, the private company will be responsible for putting things right.

"The issue has been examined by the all-party health select committee which spent a number of months looking at PFI in the health service.

"We recommended that PFI should be seen as a pilot scheme and it is too early to say overall whether they represent good value for money.

"I feel that both the advantages and criticisms of the PFI scheme have been exaggerated."

In June, Ms Drown was criticised in satirical magazine Private Eye for having once opposed PFI as a union activist.

Pre-empting criticisms that she might be sitting on the fence, she said: "It may seem like that, but it is just too early to tell whether PFI is the best way of providing hospitals."

The Great Western Hospital, due to take patients by Christmas was designed by architects Whichelowe MacFarlane and built by construction company Carillion.

Carillion, formerly Tarmac, won the contract to build the replacement for PMH under the Government's Private Finance Initiative scheme in 1996.

Under the scheme, the firm will build and own the hospital and Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust will lease it from the developers for 25 years.

But last week, the Evening Advertiser revealed that the £132 million hospital was going to move 100 administration staff into temporary accommodation in order to provide more beds. It is also looking to expand further in the future.

Ms Drown said: "This hospital was always designed with the flexibility to create more ward space. With these new government targets, it is now more important to ensure that we have enough beds for the community."