Doctors accuse Government of starving NHS to boost privatisation
2 min read
The cash crisis in the NHS is a conspiracy created by the Government to usher in a privatisation boom, doctors have concluded.
Members of the British Medical Association yesterday voted overwhelmingly for a motion that said ministers had “consciously” starved the health service of cash.
But the Department of Health rejected the claim and insisted it had “no relationship with reality”.
The motion at the Bournemouth event said that “the crisis in NHS hospitals has been consciously created by the government, in order to accelerate its transformation plans for private sector takeover of healthcare in England”.
Incoming chairman of the union Dr Chaand Nagpaul told the conference: “The general election was a wake-up call, rejecting the political pretence of trying to squeeze a quart into a pint.
“In the name of safety and quality, austerity and savage cuts have to stop. We are a rich nation, we are a civilised society. The public deserve a safe, civilised health service. We cannot and must not accept anything less.”
But doctor Grant Ingrams, who opposed the motion, argued: “The current parlous state of the NHS has not been due to political conspiracy but political cock-ups.”
And current chairman Dr Mark Porter said there was evidence of greater use of private services in the NHS but not a “deliberate conspiracy”.
A Department of Health spokesperson said: “While of course there are pressures on the frontline, the government is now spending more than any in history on the NHS, has left doctors themselves to decide on use of the private sector, and public satisfaction is now the highest it has been in all but three of the last 20 years.”
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