“Patients, NHS staff, campaigners and analysts are very clear that the solution to the crisis must involve proper funding for the NHS.”
By Apsana Begum MP
This month Parliament debated and discussed the Darzi report on the NHS. This report clearly confirms what has widely been understood: the NHS has suffered years of austerity and starvation of investment. It is important that the lessons are learnt.
It is a question of logic that addressing the impact of austerity and underfunding, cannot be done by continuing austerity and underfunding.
There is no amount of spin or political double speak that can cover up the simple question of fact, that ultimately where something has been taken away, it either remains lost to us or is replaced.
Patients, NHS staff, campaigners and analysts are very clear that the solution to the crisis must involve proper funding for the NHS, including capital investment. That is why there are widespread concerns regarding funding.
It is true that everything must be costed, and nothing is free in the purest sense. It is a matter of priorities, political choices and in whose interests, decisions are made. I know that my constituents don’t want to be told that there will be more of the same. They are absolutely and utterly desperate for change.
It has been widely known that there would need to be mechanisms to raise money to address the catastrophe that the Tories have driven us into. There are options that involve ensuring the wealthy and rich pay their fair share towards society, for example. In fact, the UK spends far less on health than many other countries in Europe.
Within the NHS, ending outsourcing and privatisation would be one way of starting to address underfunding. Privatisation at its core is a question of resourcing, and the extraction of profits from the system has been shown to undermine capacity.
In East London, the trials, and tribulations of Barts NHS Trust reveal the significant threats of PFIs to NHS budgets, and, consequently, to their ability to provide the care that NHS patients deserve, and that Trusts want to provide. For just £13bn of investment, PFIs have meant that the NHS has been landed with an £80bn bill.
According to the IPPR, the NHS trusts will pay £2.1bn on PFI repayments this year, rising to over £2.5bn in 2030 and taking money away from vital patient services. In fact, all the evidence shows that the private sector in the NHS has been disastrous.
Analysis from We Own It shows that over 72,000 NHS outsourcing contracts were given out between 2012 and 2024 worth over £130 billion and that private firms made an estimated average of 5.18% in profits. This means that at least £6.7 billion of the total value of all the contracts was lost to profits. This is money that could have been spent on doctors, beds, or treatment.
We know how beloved the NHS is and that it has been proven to be one of the best and most efficient healthcare systems in the world – and unlike many others, remains free at the point of delivery. It is crucial that any NHS reform prioritises building back publicly provided NHS services and ending privatisation.
Because big business should not be lining its pockets at the expense of our society’s health and well-being.
Because all of the taxpayers’ money should go on the services itself.
Because health should be a question of people, not profit.
- Apsana Begum is the MP for Poplar and Limehouse and a regular contributor to Labour Outlook. You can follow Apsana on Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram and Tik Tok.
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