An NHS hospital trust ignored warnings from the NHS regulator that a deal for a new hospital under the private finance initiative (PFI) was unaffordable and could leave it bankrupt, says an independent report into the events.1

Monitor, the regulator of foundation trusts, had told Peterborough and Stamford NHS Foundation Trust (as well as the Department of Health and the Treasury) that its financial targets appeared unachievable, says the report from management consultants KPMG, which was commissioned by Monitor to analyse what lessons could be learnt from the events around the deal.

The trust had believed it could increase its earnings by more than 9.2% a year in …