Labour will use “spare capacity in the private sector” to reduce NHS waiting lists, Wes Streeting has said.
The shadow health secretary has unveiled plans to introduce an extra 300,000 appointments, scans, and operations in London each year in a bid to slash the backlog, including deploying private healthcare.
Streeting said the plan included an additional 40,000 appointments, scans, and operations a week, during evenings and weekends; doubling the number of scanners for faster diagnosis; and delivering the biggest staff expansion in NHS history, alongside reforms to the service.
Data from the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN) shows that there were nearly 900,000 admissions to private hospitals in the UK in 2023, more than any previous year.
During a visit to St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, Streeting told City A.M.: “I think it says a lot about the state of the NHS after 14 years of Conservative government that those who can afford it are paying to go private and being seen faster, and those who can’t are left behind.
“I’m not willing to settle for that deeply unfair status quo. Where there is spare capacity in the private sector, we will use that spare capacity to bring down NHS waiting lists faster, providing it to the patient on NHS terms, so they never have to worry about a bill.”
He added: “This is something we did successfully under the last Labour government.
“I understand the argument that says that we’ve also got to build NHS capacity… but that takes time. In the meantime, I think making sure that we use spare capacity, wherever it exists, is absolutely the right thing to do by patients and we will always put patients first.”
Labour say the £1.3bn cost of the extra appointments and scanners would be paid for by clamping down on tax dodgers and closing non-dom tax loopholes.
Commenting on Nigel Farage’s candidacy in Clacton, and the Conservative assertion that a “vote for Reform is a vote for Labour”, Streeting said: “A vote for Reform is a vote for Reform – I’m not the slightest bit interested in the psychodrama between Rishi Sunak and Farage.”
The Conservative’s electoral troubles, he said, are “fundamentally about Sunak’s weakness as a leader, the absolute clown show we’ve seen from the Conservatives in recent years.”
He added: “I’m far more interested in setting out Labour’s store than providing a running commentary, as Rishi Sunak is crying into his cornflakes about Nigel Farage this morning.”