The Prime Minister Tony Blair has visited the new Edinburgh Royal Infirmary which has been built with private money.

The hospital, in the Little France area of the Scottish capital, is due to open in January.

It was built by the Consort Healthcare Consortium - made up of Balfour Beatty Construction, Morrison Development and The Royal Bank of Scotland.

The project has been financed by the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) deal which was devised by the former Tory government.

First Minister Henry McLeish and Scottish Secretary Helen Liddell were with Mr Blair who toured the building on Saturday.

Mr Blair said after his visit that he was very impressed with what had seen.

'Applaud Tories'

Work began in August 1998, and the overall project, which includes a medical school, is costing �210m.

When completed the hospital will have 900 beds, 24 operating theatres, 25 wards and will be the biggest hospital project in the UK.

The first patient will be admitted for orthopaedic treatment in January.

The new building will eventually replace the old Royal Infirmary in the centre of the city - all the facilities will have been moved to the new site by the summer of 2003.

Scottish Tory leader David McLetchie called on Mr Blair to applaud the Conservatives for coming up with the PFI initiative.

The business case for the new hospital was approved by Conservative Scottish Secretary Ian Lang in November 1994, and the invitation to tender was approved by Tory Scottish Secretary Michael Forsyth in January 1996.