Reactions 65. Why is nobody talking about Streeting’s plans to privatise the NHS?
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Whenever a minister makes a major speech - a budget announcement, a keynote address or a party conference address - there are many people watching and listening. Commentators and think tanks wait, poised and ready to offer their view on what’s shared. Experts read between the lines and try to predict what was meant by opaque phrases or unusual turns of phrase. Did they include that line as a dig towards another politician? Have they used that particular case study because they intend to focus on policy in one particular area? Have they hinted at a budgetary announcement to come? In the hours that follow, we see statements crop up on the websites of organisations, from CEOs offering their thoughts: “We were disappointed by this...” “We welcome the minister’s thoughts on this...”, “We need more detail”, or “clarity”, or “investment” or “urgency”. And we see the radio waves come alive and news websites peppered with new articles latching on to an inflammatory remark or controversial new suggestion.
Everyone’s desperate for information, and with a new government we’re more desperate than ever to understand what the plan is, and what it’ll mean for us all. But this week I’ve been less worried about media buzz and reactionary statements, and more by lack of scrutiny; the lack of proper detailed analysis from these think tanks and commentators. In fact, I find it downright alarming.
The Labour Party conference has been happening this week in Liverpool, and the mood has felt slightly “off” altogether. With Labour commanding an enormous majority in the House of Commons, many expected this conference to be a celebration; the triumphant gathering of a newly-elected governing party. But as the conference began, many media outlets were printing critical articles of donations and gifts that had been received by Keir Starmer and other senior Labour leaders, and this seems to have thrown cold water on proceedings. A general sense of unease has been growing in many quarters about Labour politicians in recent weeks, and for some, those concerns have been heightened even further when they learned some details about events happening at the conference.
The Guardian printed an article several days ago containing this quote:
“Big banks, oil companies and tech firms were among the more than 500 lobbyists and executives who flocked to Labour’s biggest ever business event at its conference, paying £3,000 a ticket for the chance to gain access to ministers.”
...and the Labour MP Zarah Sultana shared a post on social media on Wednesday saying this:
“Google provided £10,000 of hospitality to senior Labour figures and the party ditched plans to raise the digital services tax.”
These examples and others have led to a sense of distrust around the behaviour and intentions of Labour politicians, and this feels particularly cloying because of the actions of the previous Conservative government. A lot of people voted for this Labour government because they wanted change of course, and they’re starting to feel let down already, only a few months in. But there’s another situation happening in UK politics and the media receiving scant attention; a situation that deserves a lot more focus, and that’s the lack of proper scrutiny being applied to ministerial speeches at party conferences.
Wes Streeting made a speech yesterday at the Labour Party conference about the NHS, and it was the sort of speech we’re now familiar with from Streeting. He likes to tell us he “won’t back down”, often from imagined enemies, or people who in fact support the NHS or keep the service going. He is certainly not afraid of a fight; and has attacked trade unions, GPs, NHS workers striking for fair pay, and “middle-class lefties” as he put it. Most recently, he told the BMA to stop “sabre-rattling”.
I routinely feel incredibly frustrated by his tone, but we could perhaps forgive Streeting for his inflammatory language - he is a politician, after all, and is behaving in a manner he believes will win political favour and achieve his goals. I don’t, however, extend that same attitude to the individuals and organisations who are meant to be apolitical and scrutinising what he’s doing. Following his speech yesterday, various statements came out from high profile think tanks and other organisations, and none of them touched on the privatisation which he spoke about in his speech.
“where there’s capacity in the private sector, patients should be able to choose to go there too, free at the point of use, paid for by the NHS.”
Within hours of Streeting’s speech, a statement was published by the NHS Confederation which covered several important aspects of the NHS’s current crisis, and included this strong quote...
“With a challenging winter period on the horizon, the government will need to use its Autumn Budget to address the NHS’s short-term deficit of at least £2.2bn as this is leading to local organisations either cutting or freezing posts, and to services halting or scaling back their transformation projects in order to respond to their immediate pressures.”
…but they completely failed to mention anything about Labour’s plans for further NHS privatisation.
The Kings Fund also published a statement, covering various important areas, including the need for investment in illness prevention, and community services...
“So alongside initiatives to accelerate elective activity, we need concrete plans to prevent ill health, intervene early and support people to manage their health in their homes and communities. This will require a significant shift in resources and political focus towards primary and community services.”
...and yet they also failed to cover privatisation.
The same is true of the statement from The Nuffield Trust which, among other things, discussed the need to reform social care funding, and the Health Foundation who mention the need for increased capital funding. None of these organisations felt the need to draw attention to the elephant in the room; Wes’s words about the private sector, and Labour’s poorly thought-through plans to use yet more privatisation within the NHS.
This matters. It doesn’t only matter because the majority of people oppose the involvement of private companies within the NHS. It doesn’t only matter because there is mounting evidence that increasing privatisation does not help within public healthcare systems. It matters because there is no evidence to suggest that the private sector has meaningful capacity to assist the NHS in the manner that Labour politicians are claiming. There isn’t an enormous, secret army of healthcare professionals in the UK. If the private sector is given yet more NHS work, they will simply poach more NHS staff to do that work (and the NHS is already missing over 100,000 staff in England alone). Justin Ash, the CEO of one of the biggest private healthcare companies in the UK even went to The Times a few months ago, to explain that this plan from Labour wouldn’t work. The headline says it all:
“Private hospitals boss says they’re not the answer to NHS crisis.”
So why aren’t the think tanks and other organisations holding Labour to account about these plans, when they’re happy to talk about underinvestment, or staffing problems, or crumbling buildings in the NHS? Is it ignorance, or is it something worse; the politicisation of the organisations who should be impartial, and should be scrutinising all aspects of the political policy put forward by this government and every other? What do you think?
I’ve lived here for 22 years, and have dual USA/UK citizenship. What has happened with the NHS has been distressing for me. I am 100% in agreement that privatisation doesn’t help patients or staff - but I assure you, it is helping someone- or it wouldn’t be happening to the level it’s happening. The curious silence from the labour government about this reeks of complicity. I hope I don’t sound negative (I am negative I suppose) but I see privatisation gaining momentum and I literally don’t know what to do about it. People seem resigned. I appreciate your hard work. Is there hope do you think?
I wrote to Wes Streeting some months ago explaining my concerns about the NHS and specifically about privatisation. I didn’t get any response. This man seems to have decided that privatisation of the NHS is ‘reforming’ it and is not listening to concerns from the public. He is arrogant and rigid. He needs to be challenged more vigorously, otherwise he will continue privatisation which I fear will eventually lead to the demise of the NHS. I cannot see any value in privatising any parts of the NHS having experienced this myself and being more than unimpressed by my treatment. It is a waste of money which could be spent more effectively in the NHS itself. Privatising departments and resources within the NHS is divisive leading to ‘unjoined-up care’ which does nothing helpful to the NHS which is already struggling from 14yrs of Tory decimation. I suspect also that the commissioners will always tend to go for cheap options which once contracts come to an end costs will rise. Keeping all NHS services in the public sector would help return to a proper, decent, well-run and consolidated health service.