A HOSPITAL that stopped making payments to its ­private finance initiative (PFI) company after a bitter wrangle over fire safety is being sued for £56million.

Staff at the Whittington were informed this week that administrators of a collapsed PFI firm are trying to claw back a huge debt.

The PFI company went into administration in 2020 after the Whittington withheld remaining payments in protest at the firm’s refusal to carry out maintenance to the main building and ensure it met fire safety standards.

The NHS trust, which was due to make payments to the firm until 2034, said it was “disappointed” this week and was consulting its legal team in response.

“It just exposes how ridiculous it is to have private finance within our health service,” said Shirley Franklin, who was chair of the Defend Whittington Hospital Coalition for more 10 years. “PFI should never have been used to fund new hospital buildings. It all emerged from underfunding of the NHS.”

She added: “I just think it’s so disgusting when private companies sue the National Health Service. It’s like a big government fraud.”

Whittington Facilities Ltd was set up in 2003 as part of a now discredited system that saw NHS trusts across the country saddled with huge debts to partner companies in return for new modern buildings and some machines.

The companies, mainly funded by big banks and foreign investment instead of government funding, were supposed to be responsible for maintenance of the new buildings throughout the contract.

In 2005 University College Hospital was funded in this way while the Whittington got a main building that was at the time judged to be worth around £30million.

In July 2020, the Whittington stopped paying its PFI firm, Whittington Facilities Ltd, following a dispute about who should pay for fire safety measures at the building. WFL went into administration and all hospital maintenance was brought back in-house.

But now the administrators of WFL, Teneo Financial Advisory Ltd, have lodged a claim with the High Court to claw back all the cash – plus millions of pounds in interest.

According to financial statements, the administrators said “unfortunately the mediation process was not successful … ­litigation proceedings have commenced.”

The documents said that more than £43million is owed to Uberior Investments, a subsidiary of the Lloyds Banking Group. In total it is claiming £47.3million plus around £9million in interest and other payments.

The Whittington sits in the constituency of Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn who said in 2015 the NHS had for too long been paying the price of the Labour ­Party’s decision to use PFI to fund new hospital buildings.

He said the party had been “cowed by the press, and duped by the money men”, adding: “Labour has a duty to remove the PFI burden from the NHS – this really was our mess, and we have to clear it up.”

This policy has not been taken up, however, by Keir Starmer’s Labour Party.

A Whittington spokeswoman said: “We are disappointed that the joint administrators have felt it necessary to commence legal proceedings.

“Since our PFI collapse in 2020, we had worked diligently to ensure our building remains safe for staff, patients and visitors.”