What is meant by the term Private Finance Initiative (PFI)?
PFI stands for Private Finance Initiative. PFI was first introduced under the Conservative government and extended under the Labour government. PFI is a way of funding major new public building projects such as hospitals, schools, prisons and roads. Under the scheme the land that a hospital is built on stays with the NHS and at the end of 30 years, the building itself returns to NHS ownership. Private consortiums, usually involving large construction firms, are contracted to design a new hospital alongside NHS staff and then build the new hospital buildings and maintain the buildings over a 30-year contract period.
