It will only be English Hospitals that will be sold off to pay for UK PLC, they cannot sell Welsh Irish or Scottish Hospitals.
The money raised and spentfor Capital Works will also result in billions being sent to non English parts of the UK as a consequenc3e of the Barnett formula.
Is there any opposition at all to this government?

Gadgie, Durham, England

Run out of school fields have they?

Cliff Brooke, Peterborough, Cambs

"The NHS is safe in our hands"

Yeah right Gordon - So now we have to sell off it's core assets to pay for the outrageous pay increases that your treasury approved and which Nu Labour has lavished on GPs, doctors and consultants who never were underpaid in the first place. - In return they all work less and have more time for private practice earnings.
God knows who the rest of the wasted injection of billions of taxpayers hard earned cash has actually benefited - not the patients or the service.

.

Tom (expat), Funchal, Portugal

I sense total panic in their actions! Could it be "Mr. Prudence" has at long last realized what enlightened members of the public have known for years? New Labour Government, and the policies of Mr. Brown in particular, have brought us to the edge of an abyss with high taxation, profligate spending and unrestrained borrowing. Having sold off the "family gold" he may as well sell everything else! I would be interested to know how much New Labour have spent employing advisors to Government since 1997!

R.B., Leicester,

Asking bankers to advise on whether to sell NHS properties is like asking vampires about granting free access to blood banks.

Also why are the views of these overpaid financial "experts" still so sought after given the chaos they've caused around the world recently? Could it be that ministers are being swayed by the possibility of future directorships and positions on the boards... no, sorry, that would be unthinkable and corrupt.

Chris K, Cheltenham, UK

When this government came to power, I cried because I thought they would be good for our country. And now look what they have done. I could weep again, but for a different reason this time.

Philip Pinel, axminster, devon

When I left the UK several years ago it was a lovely country and I was proud to be English.I visted the UK last week on business and couldn't wait to get back to France.This so-called government appear to be ruining to country and this article sums up why they should be voted out ASAP.

stephen hulton, eure, france

As a chartered accountant I applaud any proposals to sell off NHS assets that are no longer used - and are unlikely to be used - in the future. But the sale and leaseback of facilities that are in use is another matter. For a spokesperson to say - "money that should be going to treat patients is really going to maintain these assets. It’s crazy" - shows a total lack of financial understanding. As others have noted facilities that will remain in use by the NHS have to be maintained regardless of who owns them. The new owners will recoup the costs in the rent - and expect to make a profit on it as well. If it costs the NHS £700m at the moment then it will £700m + when there are private owners involved. We only benefit if the capital that is raised will be used to create new capital NHS assets with lasting benefit to society. If all that happens is that the money raised is used to offset running costs then we will selling off the family silver, leaving future generations in hock.

Kevin Miller, Tonbridge,

Hmm

No one in the comments actually considering the facts, just whining as usual.

Close to where I live there was a victorian building used by the nhs for a handful of procedures, but it cost £700,000 a year just to keep the building open. These are now done in doctors surgeries and a new health centre (to which a local gp's surgery will relocate) is being built on the site. Everyone wins - except the extremely vocal and thankfully unsuccesful whiners and whingers who campaigned against the "closure of our hospital".

It's called progress people!

Mickey, Saltford,

There's a lot of impotent anger in all these comments (felt by me also). Exactly what model of democracy are we hoping to export (to Iraq, Afghstn etc) at the point of a gun?

Gareth, Brighton,

Erm, investment bankers, securitisation, debt.. this all sounds very familiar. If this Government still thinks that investment bankers can conjour money from nowhere after the American sub-prime mess they really do need locking up.

Sheila, Leicester,

They should be asking if the NHS needs all these central London hospitals. The Govt is spending vast sums on redeveloping St Barts in the centre of the CIty, which as anyone who walks past can see, is very complicated logistical job which must multiply the overall cost. They could make a fortune by selling that land and building further out of London. Its location is only useful to the relatively few people who live in the area. The surgeons may not like to be relocated to the suburbs but thats where you should build big hospitals, only things like A & E is needed centrally.

adrian, London,

“London’s NHS is the one unlocked asset that actually costs the Government money to run. So money that should be going to treat patients is really going to maintain these assets. It’s crazy.”

Am I being especially thick, or isn't it always going to cost money to maintain "assets"? Even if the hospitals are sold and leased-back, the new owners are going to have to spend money maintaining them, passing the costs back to the NHS in the rent.

Who was the 'source' who thinks hospitals will cost nothing to maintain if they're not owned by the NHS? I hope he or she has no role in decision-making.

Mike, Brighton, England

Politicians are voted into office as custodians of this country, they don’t own it therefore shouldn’t just sell off our assets without consulting the people. Browns built our economy on a pyramid of increasing house prices, sold off gold etc, on a whim to meet fiscal policies that are flawed. He’s disenfranchised millions of young people and destroyed any ambitions they have from ever owning their own home. Mr Brown this is OUR NHS not Nu Labours to sell off, we will be paying forever already for similar deals you’ve agreed to because your judgement is flawed. It’s clear you’ve been persuaded by the bankers and financiers of this world patting your head and stroking your ego enough that you think you know what you are doing, well you don’t. Its time you Mr Ditherer and your merry band of fools allowed us the electorate to decide your fate, unless of course you fancy doing a Mugabe!

Mike, Sheffield,

This is the governmen that sold off Gold at low prices. It would be short sighted to sell off the NHS assets. There shuld be a open discusssion before taking such a route.

Hamad Lone, London, England

There is often a sting in the tail of these lease back deals and you can be sure that property companies will try to structure things so that they can 'release' some or all of the prime land that the hospitals are built on for residential development. Their long term aims are not in line with providing health care.

Peter Newman, Sydney,

We can't leave this lot in power another 2 years. We have to bring their wrecking to an end before then.

Andy Bq, London,

What the hell is it with this useless Labour government they have ruined this country and now are looking for anything they can lay their hands on to sell to try to get themselves out of the mess they made. Why don't they just accept they they are completely useless and pack it in so that those who do know how to manage things can get on and do the job properly.

D Case, Newquay,

Sale and lease back is short sited you gain in the short term but loose out over the long term. So what happens in a few years and they cannot aford the rent?

Tony , Dartford, Kent

Going to sell off all the hospitals like they sold off all the playing fields. My God Gordon is hard up isn't he? Cross your fingers and toes, I think this country is in for a bumpy ride.

judy, Liverpool, England

Brown sold the gold reserves at the bottom of the market looks as if he is going to flog off other assets into a falling market. After the next election the new government (hopefully not Labour) will probably end up operating out of a portakabin on the Embankment.

Alan, Luton,

This sounds like a covert attempt to privatise the NHS. Sell the buildings then outsource the services.

The time has come to get rid of New Labour!

Costas, Cyprus,

Yeah, right: Goldman Sachs/JP Morgan will soak up public money anytime it is offered. They've almost cleaned out US 401K plans and they still can't make the market look like a buy, borrowing $38bln daily to buy each other's stock for the last two weeks.
So to soak up the slack, UK public health will be loaded with derivatives' downside from which insurers have fled in droves? A Disneyland of disaster looms.
And hospital's land reserves, about which we have heard very little until now, are suddenly "good for developers" in an economic environment of total meltdown?

Who pays the piper can whistle the tune:
Une mauvaise idée fera toujours fortune.

Dion Per Sona, Cardiff, UK,

I didn`t know that NHS property was the government`s to sell !

C.Trimmings, London, UK

Sounds like a government that is spending to much money and is desperately looking to sell any asset it can. No doubt where these assets are owned locally the government will transfer them to itself and spend the money rather than it going to the local community. By the time Labour is removed from office there will be very few assets left that are owned by the state. Selling off estate and then renting back will give the government a short term cash boost,b ut will be more expensive in the long run.

Stephen Hollinshead, St. Ives, England

And what was it labour has always been saying,
"Is the NHS safe with the Conservatives".
Well.
We can all see with all the MRSA superbugs, the average hospital wait going up and now this latest proposal of the selling off of NHS hospitals.

The NHS is certainly not safe with labour.
Dreadfull country we are living in.

Sean Hamerton, York., England.

What was the election poster in 2005 - 24hrs to save the NHS?

Selling the hospitals for a cash boost before the next election does not seem prudent to me. Leasing the hospitals back will cost the tax payers more in the long term and consequently damage the NHS. I just don't believe their spin that it is only underutilised assets/land - it really appears Brown is desperate for some cash before the next election.

Andrew, Melbourne,

It will be the crown jewels next and once they're gone there's no'getting them back.

Greg, Warwick, England

Hasn't this government wreaked enough destruction on this country already?

Paul, Coventry,

Great time to be selling property!

Reminds me of when Gordon Brown sold off 400 tons of gold at the bottom of the market in 1999, costing the tax payer billions of pounds.

Chris, Bristol,

Unused land, go for it, but what ever happens, we can't allow a rip-off sale and lease back scheme as they just builds up debt and expence obligations for the future.

Look how the PPI (or PPP) has left the country with massive expencies for the next 20-30 years.

Paul, Camberley,

and the government has hired those well known property experts - the banks - to advise them? How about putting their fees (scores of millions plus) into healthcare enhancements and staff pay instead and thus improving the main aspect of the NHS - care!

Wake up!

Peter Lowes, washington dc, US