Seven more private finance initiative hospitals, with a capital value of almost £1.5bn, were finally given the go-ahead yesterday but amid growing frustration among PFI providers at the time it is taking for the Department of Health to adjust hospital building plans to the new, more competitive, NHS market.

The hospital PFI programme is being cut back from an original £12bn of additional schemes to something closer to £7bn-£9bn, according to the health department, as hospitals adjust to the uncertainty of a system that pays them for each patient they treat, in contrast to block contracts.