Thank you for contacting me about private sector involvement in the NHS.
I fully believe in our NHS and its values. The Government has guaranteed that the NHS will always provide healthcare free at the point of delivery, regardless of ability to pay. Let me be clear: the Government will never privatise the NHS.
The use of private providers and the voluntary sector in the delivery of NHS services is not a new concept, with the previous Labour government expanding the independent sector and competition in the NHS between 1997 and 2010.
The NHS is something to be valued and protected which is why I support the commitment to properly funding the NHS. Following the 2021 Spending Review, NHS England’s day-to-day budget is set to grow by 3.8 per cent on average up to 2024/25, supporting the NHS to tackle the elective backlog, deliver its Long-Term Plan and ensure it has the resources needed to fight Covid-19.
Competition in the NHS should act as a means to an end in improving services for patients, never as an end in itself. To that end, the Health and Care Act repeals a number of clauses in the Health and Social Care Act 2012, including Section 75 which placed requirements on local health bodies to competitively tender for some health care services “where it adds no or limited value”.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.