Pretty Foolish Initiative?

Mother is back in hospital since last Thursday, but bouncing back and will be in her own place Monday morning.

So I enter and leave here quite regularly. The little sign at the bottom right carries a loaded message. "Consort" is the company who provided the Private Finance Initiative to build and maintain the hospital.

Here's how it works! The NHS will have eventually paid a total of £1.26 billion for the Infirmary - and still not own it.

By 2028, NHS Lothian will have effectively paid for the hospital seven times over but it will remain the property of private operator Consort.

NHS Lothian is tied to a £50 million-a-year contract with Consort to run and maintain the hospital which expires in 2028. At that stage, health chiefs will have to negotiate a price with Consort to buy the hospital, extend the lease by another 25 years, or walk away, leaving the hospital and its contents to the firm.

Most other PFI's don't run this way - but Edinburgh Royal Infirmary does! I can't work out in what crazy world this would make sense.

In the meantime, though, I have to say that the care delivered by NHS Lothian has been exceptionally good!