Hospital seeks pension fund investment

North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust is seeking pension funds to support the development of its Hartlepool hospital project.

“We are continuing to explore funding options,” said the trust. “While the option of funding from a pension-holding company is looking like the best option at the moment there may be other solutions or hybrid funding schemes which offer better value for money for the taxpayer.”

It added that the competition to secure funding will run alongside the procurement process.

The Foundation Trust also said that a deed of safeguard may not be needed for the scheme, as soft market testing had suggested the government guarantee “makes little or no difference to pension fund holders”.

“We are acutely aware that the funding route we are pursuing – a pension fund holder solution – is unique and it is the board’s responsibility to ensure the whole project provides value for money and is sustainable over the long-term,” said trust chairman Paul Garvin.

The Hartlepool hospital project has suffered a series of delays, first being scrapped as a public procurement by then-Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, before returning to government for approval as a PFI scheme. That process was put on hold when the government announced a review of PFI last year.