The dissolution of the South London Healthcare Trust resulted in the Princes Royal University Hospital transferring to King's College NHS Foundation Trust and the transfer of Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Greenwich to the new Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust with Lewisham Hospital. Five year financial agreements from 2013-14 to 2017-18 included a range of revenue and capital support including revenue support to meet PFI unitary payments (NHS Trust Development Authority, 2012). The PFI bailout payments were:
• Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust - £55.7m
• Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust - £73.0m
The merger of Barts Hospital with Whipps Cross University Hospital NHS Trust and Newham University Hospital NHS Trust on 1 April 2012 received £20.0m in PFI support costs as part of larger financial agreement (Kings Fund, 2015).
Sherwood Forest Hospitals Foundation Trust reported a £26.5m deficit in its 2015-16 annual report and accounts and concluded "…to support this deficit and to repay PFI debt and previous capital loan the Trust will require £52.7m of cash support before further costs" of a long-term partnership. The Trust has a 34-year, £2,243m, PFI contract. Merger negotiations with Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust were terminated in 2016 when it reportedly refused to take on Sherwood Forest's PFI liabilities (Financial Times, 2016). The abandoned merger cost £10m with £6.1m consultancy fees, £0.5m legal fees, £2.4m backfilling positions of seconded staff and £1.0m for clinical support (BMA, 2016).
There are at least nine mergers currently planned of NHS trusts, which are likely to increase the need for government financial support for PFI projects. For example, the Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (planned merger with Hinchingbrooke Health Care NHS Trust) estimates it needs £650m of central financial support over the next 26 years to finance its £1.8bn private finance initiative deal (Illman, 2016).