Any collaboration between public bodies, such as local authorities or central government, and private companies is generally referred to as a Public-Private Partnership (PPP). Public Private Partnership's are a key element in the UK Government's strategy for delivering modern, high quality public services.
In trying to bring the public and private sector together, the government hopes that the management skills and financial acumen of the business community will create better value for money for taxpayers.
Under the Private Finance Initiative the Government has chosen to use PPP's as a means of outsourcing procurement, ownership and long-term maintenance of assets previously owned by the public sector - such as hospitals, schools and roads.
PFI projects transfer from the public to the private sector the financial and technical risks of undertaking large-scale building and infrastructure projects and of providing the services needed to operate and maintain the assets once they are in place.
In return, the public sector pays for the project over an extended period, generally 25 to 30 years, through a series of performance or output related payments that give the private sector a return on its original investment and remunerate it for providing the services.
We are now on the brink of one of the most exciting developments ever seen in healthcare. When we open in 2008 we will have the most up-to-date hospital facilities in Europe, if not the world