1 The London Regional Office of the NHS formally approved the OBC in October 2000, subject to the outcome of the public consultation on the future of specialist services in west London. The Regional Office highlighted its concerns about the:
■ completeness of the strategy to operate clinical services while building new hospitals on the same site ("decant strategy");
■ identification and responsibility for management of project risks;
■ treatment of the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother building; and
■ affordability of the scheme.
2 The summary of other concerns included a further 17 issues, such as the need to emphasise the proposed increase in nursing staff, and the need for a full risk assessment and a strategy for achieving planning permission.
3 There was no requirement from the Regional Office for the above issues to be addressed in a reworked OBC. Rather, the Regional Office split the issues into two categories: those which had to be addressed in the near future prior to placing the OJEU advert for procurement (anticipated for Summer 2001) and those that would be resolved within the Full Business Case when that was prepared. There is no record of any review by the Regional Office of how the Campus partners were addressing the issues when the OJEU tendering was delayed.