EXPERTS in healthcare and economics warned the government against “injecting market logic” into the NHS as the Morning Star went to print yesterday.

At a debate chaired by Labour MP Richard Burgon in Westminster, peers and MPs were to hear evidence from a new report which found that privatisation within the health service is far more widespread than acknowledged.

The report includes information claiming high levels of private company involvement in the public service, which they estimate to be about 30 per cent.

Previous figures, they said, only accounted for 7 per cent of privatisation in the NHS, but the report’s authors have found it has continued to increase year on year.

The report, entitled The Nature, Extent and Impact of NHS Privatisation, was published by public ownership campaigners Keep Our NHS Public (KONP) and the anti-poverty group 99 per cent.

Using financial data, policy analysis and service delivery evidence, they found there has been a “structural shift” in policy away from a publicly owned and provided health service.

The launch event included testimonies from economic experts as well as healthcare professionals who presented a “strategic critique” of the government’s handling of privatisation in the NHS.

Debate participants will include the Nuffield Trust’s Mark Dayan, former chief executive of several NHS trusts, Chris Banks, and retired consultant ophthalmologist Dr Colin Hutchinson.

KONP co-chair Dr Tony O’Sullivan said the report showed that “NHS privatisation is not a future threat but a present reality.”

He said this has been “driven forward by policy choices that fragment services, weaken accountability and put patients last.

“As a doctor, I have seen first-hand what happens when market logic is injected into patient care.”