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AIBU?

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Original poster

To worry Labour will (part) privatise the NHS?

43 replies

DrBlackbird · 27/05/2024 17:44

A friend recently commented to me that Labour plans to continue to move the NHS further along the privatisation pathway. I’ve read the following in the FT:

Wes Streeting has said ..the precondition for additional funding would be reform, including through the rollout of new technologies and partnerships with cutting-edge private companies Also that Streeting has mentioned several times plans to use the private sector for hip, knee and eye surgeries funded by the NHS and dismisses concerns about using NHS funds to pay private providers.

The thought of further reform is concerning. Does anyone have any more information on Streeting’s plans? Or general thoughts? Please note, I am NOT denying the Tories have eviscerated NHS services. This is not a comparison between the Tories and Labour. Tories will lose the GE so it’s a moot point. More, anyone have thoughts on Labour’s planned approach.

Whilst Blair’s Labour did invest in the NHS there were some disastrous policy decisions eg the PFI. NHS trusts now spend £2bn a year financing debt on private finance initiative (PFI) projects. That was a New Labour initiative.

IABU = Move along. Nothing to worry about here.
IANBU = Streeting’s reforms could be like New Labour’s shambolic PFI

OP posts:
pointythings · 27/05/2024 21:16

Bululu · 27/05/2024 21:09

Yeah but they won’t be criticised much because they are Labour. So long they can back it up blaming the evil tories. This should have been done ages ago in a bigger scale but there would have been riots so it is on Labour now.

You are aware, are you not, that the Tories have been in power for the past 14 years and that this situation is therefore 100% on them? Labour don't need to 'blame the evil Tories' because the facts speak for themselves.

IClaudine · 27/05/2024 21:12

Bululu · 27/05/2024 21:09

Yeah but they won’t be criticised much because they are Labour. So long they can back it up blaming the evil tories. This should have been done ages ago in a bigger scale but there would have been riots so it is on Labour now.

Well who the hell else other than the Tories are to blame for the mess everything is in?

Bululu · 27/05/2024 21:09

Yeah but they won’t be criticised much because they are Labour. So long they can back it up blaming the evil tories. This should have been done ages ago in a bigger scale but there would have been riots so it is on Labour now.

IClaudine · 27/05/2024 21:09

That’s why I’m doubtful it’s the magic pill he’s selling it as

I am not a Streeting fan, but I don't think he is selling it as a magic pill to fix the NHS. Any voter with half a brain knows that there is no such thing and that it will take years and years to undo the harm caused by the Tories.

Original poster
DrBlackbird · 27/05/2024 20:51

IClaudine · 27/05/2024 18:12

YABU.

Using the private sector in the short term is not ideal but it will be necessary thanks to the Tories' near destruction of the NHS.

You are also BU for not posting this in the GE forum!

Didn’t know that there was one!

Quite a few snarky responses. If you read the OP, I’ve already agreed that Tories have run the NHS into the ground. My focus is looking ahead to Labour’s plan, which merits discussion ahead of the GE.

So yes please do be assured that I know that privatisation is already deeply embedded in the NHS and has been for decades. Private companies drawn to a deep public purse paired underpinned by an unavoidable need health on the one hand, with successive govts (including new labour) assuring us that markets solve everything on the other.

But isn’t that part of the problem? Private health care creams off the easy - and highly lucrative - care leaving complicated tertiary care to the NHS simultaneously luring doctors and nurses away from the NHS to better pay and well resourced private hospitals.

How is Streeting’s plan going to address NHS shortages by doing more of the same? That’s why I’m doubtful it’s the magic pill he’s selling it as.

OP posts:
BlueJamSandwich · 27/05/2024 18:32

You're not being unreasonable. It's a nonsense plan. Using private facilities (mostly staffed by NHS doctors) to reduce the pressure on NHS doctors, but paying that money to private companies is part of why it's buggered in the first place. It's basically a multibillion pound donation subsidy to private healthcare.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/dec/12/private-hospitals-nhs-labour-wes-streeting-healthcare

Just follow the money in the Tory-lite Labour Party and think about it.
https://labourheartlands.com/selling-out-the-nhs-the-shocking-links-between-labour-mps-and-private-healthcare-donations/

When Labour were meeting with the Trump supporting Heritage Foundation last week discussing a Trade Deal, what do you think the Americans were after?

Private Healthcare Lobbying Casts a Dark Shadow

Selling Out the NHS: The Shocking Links Between Labour MPs and Private Healthcare Donations

Labour's Shame: Senior Party Members Linked to Private Healthcare Interests In a shocking revelation, the Every Doctor campaign group has unearthed a web of connections between Members of Parliament and the private healthcare sector. The investi...

https://labourheartlands.com/selling-out-the-nhs-the-shocking-links-between-labour-mps-and-private-healthcare-donations

pointythings · 27/05/2024 18:21

The aim is to bring waiting lists down by using private sector capacity. This is a pragmatic solution to the problems caused by the Tories. Hope that's clear enough.

IClaudine · 27/05/2024 18:13

Jc2001 · 27/05/2024 17:48

There's a difference between privatisation and using private companies.

Now, now, don't ruin the scaremongering,!

bozzabollix · 27/05/2024 18:13

FFS do you not know about the amount of involvement private companies have at the moment in the NHS under the current government. Do you also not realise how much the NHS has been run down by the Tories so we now have little alternative but to go towards private?

And it’s Labour’s fault? The Tories have presided over the increasingly failing NHS for a whole fourteen years. The failure is theirs.

IClaudine · 27/05/2024 18:12

YABU.

Using the private sector in the short term is not ideal but it will be necessary thanks to the Tories' near destruction of the NHS.

You are also BU for not posting this in the GE forum!

Octavia64 · 27/05/2024 18:10

The private sector already have contracts for some NHS work.

My mum's cataracts were done on the nHS at a specialist private company that only did cataracts.

TuesdayWhistler · 27/05/2024 18:09

The NHS needs fixing.
Whoever gets in will need to tackle it.
I don't think Keir Starmer has the balls to do what's needed.

BeaRF75 · 27/05/2024 18:06

Let's hope they do! If so, they might actually be worth voting for..... Wes Streeting does show some common sense.

farfallarocks · 27/05/2024 18:05

Why would it be concern? Using capacity in the private sector to cut waiting lists for example is an excellent idea. Using companies in Australia to analyse x rays means you don’t have to wait for morning to check which bone is broken.

MissyB1 · 27/05/2024 18:03

You mean more than the Tories already have? You do know the private sector already have lots of contracts for NHS work?

WayMeanWood · 27/05/2024 17:59

frankentall · 27/05/2024 17:58

Tories are getting desparate.

🤣🤣🤣

frankentall · 27/05/2024 17:58

Tories are getting desparate.

Jc2001 · 27/05/2024 17:48

There's a difference between privatisation and using private companies.

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