The PFI Game @ Museum of Neoliberalism
A display from the Museum of Neoliberalism. Temporarily closed due to coronavirus.
Partial dismantling of the NHS has already begun. ‘Private Finance Initiatives’ were introduced by John Major and Tony Blair in the 1990s. Private companies build and maintain infrastructure, which is then leased by the state for regular repayments. Our tax money to pay for the NHS is funnelled, by PFI, to these companies.
Above you can see examples of actual prices charged to the NHS by private contractors for individual items. The total build cost for NHS PFI hospitals was £11.4bn. The final price we will pay is projected to be over £79bn.
Neoliberal policy has also gifted these companies with generous tax cuts. They regularly hold their gains in offshore tax havens. NHS Trusts are often unable to afford the high repayments. PFI firms have seen huge profits. Hospitals have seen closures, redundancies, pay cuts and longer working hours. These financial matters may seem distant and abstract, but they will be felt directly in your body. If you need medical help, PFIs have ensured you a longer wait to be seen by a doctor and a drastically reduced treatment service.
The PFI debt is four times the size of the budget deficit used to justify austerity.
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Museum of Neoliberalism
curated by Darren Cullen and Gavin Grindon
www.museumofneoliberalism.com
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Video music by musicmaniac301