The UK Government is raiding up to £10 billion from NHS budgets to pay private clinics and hospitals to take NHS patients in England. In the wake of the covid pandemic, our national health service is still not able to treat many of the people who need care.
There are thousands of closed hospital beds that could be reopened with adequate resources. The NHS needs MORE resources injected NOW.
Tell the government to leave the £10 billion in the NHS, and not give it to private hospitals
Instead, the Government is once again throwing money into private contracts, spending £10 billion of taxpayers’ money on 90 private clinics and hospitals by block-booking private hospital beds.
This is despite the waste and inefficiency of government funding of private beds in the midst of the pandemic last year. On average, less than a third of private sector beds were used, in exchange for around £2 billion of government funding. This is the same inefficiency and waste of money we’ve seen with the £billions spent on other private contracts such as Serco Test and Trace.
It’s clear we can’t trust the private sector to deliver value for money. Investing in our NHS is the most reliable way to get the care we all need.
We’ve seen the incredible dedication of our hard-working NHS staff treating millions of patients throughout the pandemic, and the success of the NHS vaccination programme. The NHS could regain lost capacity and do even more with proper investment. It’s time to invest in the NHS, not the private sector!
Tell the Government to put the £10 billion into the NHS, not private hospitals
The NHS is short of at least 50,000 frontline staff, yet instead of building NHS capacity, this government plan allows the private sector to benefit from using NHS staff to treat patients, taking them away from the NHS hospitals where they are so needed. As a direct result, hospitals will suffer from reduced budgets, more staffing problems and no funds to reopen their own closed and under-used beds.
Under this plan, in four years’ time the NHS will be further weakened and chronically dependent upon private hospitals.
This dishonest government plan is a win for the private sector – and a body blow for the NHS hospitals that we all depend upon. The Government must be told to change course and invest in our NHS, not in private hospitals.
Please sign our petition to demand the UK Government invests in the NHS – NOT in private healthcare.