Whittington hospital
A sister company of the firm that oversaw the botched refurbishment of Grenfell Tower is suing a NHS hospital following the collapse of a potential £300m contract.
The High Court will on Monday [December 9] begin considering a bid by property firm Ryhurst to claim “in excess of £4 million” from the Whittington hospital, in Archway. Sources suggest the amount of compensation being sought is far higher than £4m.
Ryhurst had been set to become the hospital’s partner in redeveloping its site and was appointed “preferred bidder” 12 days before the blaze in June 2017 that killed 72 people.
Hospital chiefs put the deal on hold in the wake of the tragedy and came under pressure from Labour leader and local MP Jeremy Corbyn, London mayor Sadiq Khan and NHS anti-privatisation campaigners to ditch the plans, court papers reveal.
In June last year the proposal was formally abandoned by the Whittington board.
Ryhurst, part of the Rydon group that includes Grenfell contractor Rydon Maintenance, had expected to earn “£30m to £300m” from the 10-year contract.
It claims the Whittington’s decision to abandon the deal was “as a result of Rydon Maintenance’s involvement in works at Grenfell Tower”.
This is denied by the Whittington, which says the decision to bring the work in-house was made after it won extra NHS funds and restrictions were placed on trusts awarding contracts to external firms.
But trust bosses were aware they had placed themselves at risk of court action from Ryhurst, which believed the deal had been awarded by the trust in November 2017 and ratified by NHS Improvement (NHSi) in February last year.
Extracts of emails exchanged between Whittington board members and submitted to the court reveal the trust felt let down by “ineptitude” and a “lack of backbone” from NHSi and “the involvement of the Mayor for entirely political reasons”.
Mr Corbyn opposed the choice of Ryhurst and, with fellow Labour MPs Emily Thornberry and Catherine West, called on the hospital to “reconsider the decision and explore alternative options”.
Ryhurst is asking the High Court to enforce the procurement contact or declare the hospital’s actions as unlawful and award it damages.
Shirley Franklin, chairwoman of Defend the Whittington Hospital Coalition, said it was “appalling” that a firm linked to Grenfell should sue a hospital. “This is a deeply political issue, which arises out of the underfunding of the NHS,” she said.
A spokeswoman for Whittington Health NHS Trust said: “We are extremely disappointed that Ryhurst are taking legal action and will be robustly defending our position.”
Ryhurst, which was not involved in any work at Grenfell Tower, said: “We are disappointed there has not been a resolution before this stage as we have always remained open to discussion with the trust.”
rosslydall 