Consort Healthcare's Abuse of Power at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary

That the Parliament understands with concern that NHS Lothian might never own the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (ERI); further understands that, at the end of the 25-year PFI contract with Consort Healthcare (CH), the board will have to negotiate a price with CH to buy the hospital, extend the lease by another 25 years or walk away; believes that NHS Lothian is prevented from imposing any deficiency points for breach of contract for a period of up to five years in respect of the decision to build and service an additional 31 beds to deal with winter pressures; considers this to be deplorable as it could mean that the board is unable to reprimand CH in the event that it repeats what it understands have been serious breaches in procedures, such as surgery being completed by torchlight, incomplete checks on staff, Healthcare Environment Inspectorate criticism of hygiene deficiencies in wards and toilets and flies being reported to have been found in operating suites, which led to operations being cancelled; understands that taxpayers will have to pay £1.44 billion to CH for the maintenance of the ERI by 2034, including £47.8 million in 2015-16; considers that this will deprive patients in Edinburgh and across Lothian of vital resources that could be used to recruit and retain hard-working NHS staff and to provide high-quality patient care; welcomes the Scottish Government’s commitment to undertake a financial "health-check" on the contract; notes the reported support of UNISON and the British Medical Association to have the issue debated in the Parliament; further notes with disappointment that, despite the Scottish Government abolishing car-parking charges at all publically-owned hospitals in 2008, staff, patients and visitors who travel by car to the ERI still face car parking charges due to the PFI contract; believes the operation of PFI in Lothian and across Scotland to be a major public scandal, and notes calls for the Scottish Government to explore what steps would be necessary to buy out the contract.