Blackpool Council to lend £27.1m to local NHS trust

The trust, which runs three hospitals in the area, will use the loan to repay existing borrowings

Blackpool Council is to loan the local NHS trust £27.1m to allow it to restructure borrowings and invest in front-line services.

The money will be used by Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to secure a lower rate of interest.

The Labour-led council previously loaned the trust £9.2m in 2017 and leader Simon Blackburn said the funds would help it "build, grow and hire".

Opponents said the money should be used to stimulate private sector growth.

The council's executive committee is due to approve the 25-year unsecured loan at a meeting on 21 May.

The trust, which operates Blackpool Victoria, Clifton and Fleetwood hospitals, approached the council about financing earlier in 2018, according to executive committee agenda.

'Bypassing the town'

The trust's deputy chief executive Tim Bennett said the body, which was criticised by the Care Quality Commission in March 2018 for consistently failing to meet waiting times for emergency care, was committed to making savings to "provide funds to reinvest into patient care".

Mr Blackburn said as the council could "borrow money at a lower interest rate than others", it could loan funds "to support companies to build, grow and hire".

The money will come from a £100m Business Loans Fund, which was established in February 2017.

The deputy leader of the council's Conservative group, Councillor Don Clapham, said the fund should be used to stimulate private sector growth.

"Using this fund to repay a loan to central government means it is bypassing the town and its people," he said.

A council spokesman said the fund was designed to both protect and create jobs and had so far loaned money to restaurants, hotels and manufacturing companies.