WEST Middlesex Hospital has been identified by the Government as one of 22 hospital trusts across the UK at risk due to repayments for building work.
The hospital, in Twickenham Road, Isleworth, was named by health secretary Andrew Lansley last week in an attack on the privately-funded hospital building schemes approved by the previous Labour government.
West Mid is one of many hospitals to have signed private finance initiative (PFI) deals, under which private firms pay for the cost of building work with the hospital repaying the debt over a number of years.
Its new hospital building, completed in 2003 at a cost of £60 million, was built using PFI money and the loan is not due to be paid off until 2036.
Last year, the hospital handed over a total of £4.8m in what have been described as 'NHS mortgage' payments, out of a total annual budget of about £150m.
Throw in maintenance costs for the building, which it is effectively hiring until the loan is paid off, and that figure rises to £14m - nearly a tenth of the hospital's budget.
That is by no means the biggest proportion of hospital funds being spent on PFI repayments, with some trusts shelling out closer to a fifth of their annual budgets.
However, it is still a significant sum, especially at a time when the hospital is seeking to slash spending by more than £15m over the next four years and in March announced it was cutting 261 jobs.
The hospital also has a historic debt of £21.6m, although it broke even last year for the first time since 2007/8 and is still hoping to reach a deal with other NHS trusts to write off this burden.
Mr Lansley said last week: "The truth is that some hospitals have been landed with PFI deals they simply cannot afford.
"Like the economy, Labour has brought some parts of the NHS to the brink of financial collapse."
According to figures from the Department for Health, yearly PFI repayments are set to rise by 75 per cent to £2.5bn nationally in the next 18 years due to inflation and the way the deals were arranged.
Labour defended the deals, claiming much-needed improvements to hospitals would not have been possible without outside investment.
A spokesman for West Mid said: "The redevelopment (in 2003) was only possible as part of a PFI. We now have one of the most modern estates in north-west London, providing the best possible care to our community."
"We have not had any direct discussions with the Secretary of State for Health, but the Government will continue to look at what more can be done to get better value for money from existing and future PFI projects.
"The trust is working with all parties involved in the project to find cost savings in line with those areas identified in HM Treasury's recent guidance."
