NHS trusts offered a new solution to equipment funding

Published: 12-Aug-2011
Finance

NHS trusts struggling to find the cash to fund new equipment are being thrown a lifeline in the form of NHS LIFT, the procurement mechanism for improving the healthcare estate.


NHS LIFT - Local Improvement Finance Trust - was first launched by the Department of Health in 2000 to develop and encourage a new market for investment in primary care and community-based NHS facilities. Under the scheme the buildings are refurbished or built and maintained by a local LIFT company (LIFTCo) - a joint venture between the public and private sectors which has the responsibility for leasing facilities back to the primary care trust and maintaining the premises over the long-term.

Once established, the LIFTCo can be used many times, meaning that the various private sector partners become increasingly adept at working together. And, in a bid to help the NHS in the current financial climate, those behind the scheme are considering a shake-up that will see the methodology used instead for the purchase of medical devices.

If there is business to come out of the NHS reforms, it will be driving down the overall cost of healthcare and LIFT can definitely help with this in a number of ways, including the purchasing and provision of equipment

Speaking to HES this week David Pokora, executive director of The LIFT Council, said that as well as branching into local authority infrastructure, they were confident LIFT could also be used more widely within the NHS. He added: "LIFTCos have a tried-and-tested supply chain that includes equipment providers. They have worked together in the past to equip the premises they have built and there are cases where they have provided a raft of clinical devices. The future of LIFT will be about flexibility and adapting to meet the demands of the marketplace.

"If there is business to come out of the NHS reforms, it will be driving down the overall cost of healthcare and LIFT can definitely help with this in a number of ways, including the purchasing and provision of equipment."

One key advantage of LIFT is the proven working relationship between the partners in the LIFTCo. Pokora said: "LIFTCos are perfectly placed because they can access private capital, they are well established, and they are seen by banks as less of a risk than a completely new company. They are there already and I think they have a real role to play in helping the NHS deliver improved care for patients at a lower cost."

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