“The scale of the expansion being considered would surpass moves made by the Blair government, which first introduced use of the private sector by the NHS.”
Chronically under-funded and over-indebted, the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) appears to be coming apart at the seams. While the Keir Starmer government refuses to pour new funds into the declining health service until major “reforms” are enacted– which will primarily involve outsourcing even more of its services to the private sector — the costs to repair many of its crumbling buildings are spiralling. According to an article by Morning Star, the total repairs bill for NHS facilities in England surged to £13.8 billion in 2023, up by a fifth on the previous year:
Costs amounting to £3bn were attributed to “high-risk” repairs, which could cause injury if left unaddressed.
“Vital bits of the NHS are literally falling apart after years of underinvestment nationally,” said NHS Providers deputy chief executive Saffron Cordery. “The safety of patients and staff is at risk.”
The spiralling maintenance backlog outstrips the cost of running the NHS estate itself, which also increased by 11 per cent to £13.6bn…
Last month, a report into the state of the health service by Lord Darzi revealed Britain had spent £37bn less on the NHS between 2010 and 2024 than comparable countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
To make matters worse, the NHS is now being offered a helping hand from the same private hospitals that want to dismember it. Last week, The Telegraph reported that the government is considering taking up an offer from the private sector that would see cancer checks, surgery and intensive care for NHS patients increasingly taking place in private hospitals. Just as we warned during Starmer’s first week in office, his new Labour government is certain to continue, if not intensify, the piecemeal privatisation of the NHS.
From the Telegraph piece:
The NHS has been pleading for extra funds ahead of the Budget on Oct 30, but in his first speech as Health Secretary, Wes Streeting vowed to end “the begging bowl culture, where the only interaction the Treasury has with the Department of Health is ‘we need more money for X, Y and Z’”.
Under the plans, submitted by private hospitals, the independent sector could treat up to 2.5 million more patients, with some treatment starting in weeks…
The Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN), which represents private hospitals, including groups such as Bupa, Circle Health Group and Care UK, has written to the Chancellor and the Health Secretary saying that more than £1 billion of private sector capacity could be invested into facilities for NHS patients…
The scale of the expansion being considered would surpass moves made by the Blair government, which first introduced use of the private sector by the NHS.
Bought and Paid For
Unmentioned in the article is the that Streeting has received £175,000 from donors linked to private health firms. Collectively, the Labour government’s cabinet ministers have raked in more than £500,000 in donations from firms with links to the sector, including lobbies representing some of the largest private healthcare corporations in the US. This sort of information often gets overlooked in mainstream media articles about the Labour government’s plans for the NHS.
Given who their backers include, it should hardly come as a surprise that Streeting and his cabinet colleagues are reportedly “very interested” in the private sector’s proposals. Streeting has repeatedly pledged to outdo Tony Blair, his mentor and idol, in deploying the private sector in the provision of NHS care. “If you want to understand my appetite for reform, think New Labour on steroids,” he said in a speech in May. And he seems to be keeping to his word.
In his mission to accelerate the privatisation of the NHS, Streeting will be able to count on the experience and expertise of Alan Milburn, who is to be given a lead role in the Health Ministry. During his four-year stint as secretary of state for health (1999-2003) under Blair, Milburn did more than just about anyone to advance the privatisation of the UK’s health system.
The former health secretary, like the current one, is a fervent believer in using private healthcare to tackle the NHS’ ever-growing treatment backlog, and has raked in millions as a consultant to some companies with interests in the sector. As The Guardian puts it, this “could trigger claims that his role at the DHSC puts him at risk of being exposed to conflicts of interest between his public and private sector activities” — as if that isn’t the basic model of governance in the UK today.
Resuscitating PFI
Milburn was also the first health secretary to begin applying the disastrous Private Finance Initiative (PFI) to NHS infrastructure projects. Three decades later, the single biggest financial burden for many NHS trusts is the regular payments they must make for buildings constructed and maintained via PFI. As the FT noted a few days ago, PFI has saddled many local authorities and NHS trusts with “crippling debt repayments.”
Under PFI, instead of borrowing to build, the government began contracting with private sector firms to finance, design, build and maintain public assets, including hospitals, schools, roads, prisons, street lighting and military equipment. The contracts typically run for 25–30 years, and many of them are coming to an end soon…
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Nick Corbishley 