Revealed: Government Secrecy Over Nightingale Hospital Costs And Private Firms That Built Them
They were the flagship success in the government’s coronavirus response: 12 brand new hospitals built across the UK in a matter of weeks to ensure the pandemic did not overwhelm the NHS.
But an investigation by HuffPost UK has found a veil of secrecy surrounds the costs to build these trailblazing hospitals, who built them and even who pays for them.
The government and the NHS repeatedly failed to answer questions about which private companies worked on the Nightingales or what multi-million pound contracts were handed out.
Basic information about these contracts has also not been published on public databases where information should appear within 30 days.
When HuffPost UK first approached NHS England we were told information relating to the costs and contractors for the Nightingales would be issued.
But the organisation made an apparent U-turn, backtracking once the information had been sent to its legal team.
Only today at the eleventh hour, faced with the threat of imminent publication of this story, did NHS England concede to release some limited, basic information confirming the list of contractors.
Procurement experts told HuffPost UK the government may still be in breach of the law if contracts are not published within the statutory timeframes.
The apparent secrecy has led to accusations of a lack of transparency over government spending on one of the most significant health infrastructure projects in a generation.
“Failing to open these details up to scrutiny – especially during times of crisis – raises the risk that public money is wasted on overpriced services or awarded to companies with political connections, rather than those best suited to the job,” said Rachel Davies Teka, head of advocacy at Transparency International UK.
Another procurement expert, Dr Mihaly Fazekas of the University of Cambridge, told HuffPost UK: “The government shouldn’t be suppressing this.”
Work on the Nightingale hospitals was carried out in a matter of weeks...
