Management 'failed hospital plan'

The "super hospital" would have merged three London hospitals

Plans for a "super-hospital" which wasted £14m in development failed because of poor management and weak foundations, a report has said.

The Paddington Health Campus would have merged St Mary's, the Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals on one site on Paddington Waterside, west London.

But escalating land costs and an "inadequate" business plan meant the scheme was abandoned in June this year.

The report was produced by the North West London Strategic Health Authority.

The Private Finance Initiatives (PFI) project got into trouble when its estimated cost soared from £350m to £800m.

Lessons Learned

The North West London Strategic Health Authority (NWLSHA) said it could not justify pursuing the proposals after the Royal Brompton & Harefield Trust withdrew its backing because of the rising expenditure.

The independent report called "Lessons Learned" makes 43 recommendations for those involved including the Strategic Health Authority, the Department of Health (DoH) and the hospital trusts.

Its conclusions include:

The original outline business case in 2000 was flawed

The ability to develop a coherent business plan was "critically impacted" by DoH policy changes during the course of its development

The project should have been cancelled earlier

It was allowed to continue because of an "absence of a distinct role with accountability, responsibility and authority to take the decision to close the project..."

A lack of detail about the accountabilities and roles of the project partners

NWLSHA Chief Executive Dr Gareth Goodier said there was "systemic failure" throughout the project.

A spokesman for the DoH said the scheme's termination should not reflect adversely on PFI schemes.

He said: "The department also now approves more expensive schemes at a later stage, when scheme proposals are more fully developed and the viability of schemes can be better assessed."