Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting (pictured) claims Labour would make greater use of spare capacity in the private health sector to arrest spiralling wait times for NHS treatment.
NHS England data released last week revealed the number of people awaiting NHS treatment topped 7.3 million for the first time in March.
As part of a plan to drive down wait times, Streeting revealed last month that a Labour government would introduce mental health hubs in every community, train thousands more doctors, nurses and health visitors and alleviate workloads of overburdened GPs as part of its drive towards creating a “neighbourhood” health service, the party has said.
But commenting on government’s delay in publishing the recommendations of a group of experts, set up to tackle backlogs in the NHS, Streeting said a Labour administration would turn to the private sector for help.
The Elective Recovery Taskforce was set up in December to maximise use of the private sector in the NHS.
While its work concluded in March, Labour accuses the government of delaying publishing its recommendations or acting upon them, with the recommendations now not expected to be published until the summer.
The delay coincides with new data revealing that almost 300,000 more patients on waiting lists could have received treatment by now, if all spare capacity in the private sector was being used.
According to the independent healthcare sector, it has the capacity to carry out an extra 30% of the procedures it was conducting for NHS patients before the pandemic.
This means since January 2022, when Labour first called for greater use of the private sector, an additional 284,000 patients could have received treatment.
The procedures are carried out by private healthcare companies, paid for by the NHS.
‘Everyone else left behind’
“It’s completely unjust that only those who can afford to pay to go private are being treated on time, while everyone else is left behind,” Streeting said.
“Labour would use the spare capacity in the private sector to get patients seen faster, free at the point of use. The last Labour government showed this is an effective tool in bringing down NHS waiting lists.
“If the Conservatives had got their skates on, almost 300,000 patients could have been treated, off the waiting list, and back to living their lives to the full. Rishi Sunak’s dither and delay is costing patients dear,”
The Independent Healthcare Providers Network welcomed Streeting’s comments.
Its chief executive David Hare said: “We welcome cross-party consensus on the important role that the independent sector must play in improving access to care for NHS patients.
“We look forward to the publication of the government’s elective recovery taskforce report. We hope it will ensure patients are fully informed about their options to choose the most appropriate provider for them, including from the independent sector.
“This will ensure more patients are able to get faster NHS treatment, free at the point of use.”