The buildings and facilities of up to 16 independent sector treatment centres will need to be bought by the NHS over the next two years at a capital cost estimated at £200m, the Department of Health has confirmed.
The £200m cost relates to the so-called “residual value guarantees” that were built into the first wave of the ISTC programme contracts in order to minimise the risk to the private sector of taking on five year contracts to treat and diagnose elective patients.
The guarantees - which were made in addition to guarantees around the volume of work the centres would receive - require the NHS to buy back the remaining capital assets of the centres at their capital value at the point at which the contracts expire. The latest estimate given by the DoH is £200m.
Read more at HSJ.
Tags: ISTCs
