MORE than half of the nation's entire primary healthcare is delivered through outdated and often dilapidated doctors surgeries and healthcare facilities.

The Government's LIFT public/private healthcare initiative is seen as the cornerstone of plans to replace and modernise these facilities.

Following the success of the first wave of LIFT implementation, the roll-out programme is rapidly gathering momentum, according to property and construction specialist David Vayro, a partner at law firm Rowe Cohen, who has been heavily involved in the pioneering stages of LIFT projects.

Under the highly-innovative Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) scheme, business entities, known as 'LiftCos', are formed to build and manage state-of-the-art primary care facilities for GPs, dentists and pharmacists.   LiftCos are partnerships between, on one hand:

· local authorities
· healthcare professionals
· healthcare trusts
·
and on the other:

· private sector designers
· constructors
· facilities managers and
· the corporate finance community

It is the Government's intention that typical LiftCos will undertake large-scale, region-wide developments to provide medical consultation and assessment facilities, minor surgery suites and pharmacies, thus making the ventures commercially attractive.

The Government plans to establish forty-two such LiftCos to transform local primary healthcare.  Many GP's will be able to dispose of their inadequate properties, which are often privately owned, and move into purpose-built modern facilities, owned and run by the LiftCo partnerships.

LiftCos useusing private sector capital provided by banks and finance houses and the highly competitive private sector skills of property development, construction and management.

David Vayro acted for national construction group, Bluestone plc, in bringing a pilot LiftCo scheme in Barnsley to a successful conclusion and, building on this success, his team is moving on to four other schemes in inner London and Hampshire.

"This is an ambitious initiative with wide-ranging ramifications for the nation's healthcare services," says Vayro. "From a lawyer's viewpoint, it involves understanding the dynamics of this new procurement process and giving practical effect to often differing objectives.  It also entaiials acting as an interface between these somewhat complex new entities - already in an unusual arrangement with private capital - and the construction industry.  The whole purpose is to harness private sector resources to bring about a wholesale modernisation of the primary healthcare system.

"The Rowe Cohen team has now gained invaluable experience  and expertise in putting this ambitious but relatively untried principle into effect.

"Although it is by no means a perfect system, with careful management and clear legal guidance, the LIFT political initiative has every prospect of becoming a great success. We're looking forward to advising clients on the procurement and construction aspects of many more of these enterprises."

For further information, please contact:

David Vayro  Rowe Cohen   0161 830 4600

Rick Blears  rick@rmspr.co.uk  0161 929 5194

(6/7/04)