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NHS under threat: Labour is wrong to embrace private sector 
Diverting public funding to grow private-sector ‘spare capacity,’ actively undermines the funding and staff available to the NHS and results in a worse service, write JOHN PUNTIS and TONY O’SULLIVAN
WHAT KIND OF CHANGE? Keir Starmer happy to selfie with members of NHS staff at the Elective Orthopaedic Centre in Epsom, Surrey, January 2025

2024 was the busiest year on record for emergency departments and ambulance services in England. Care in corridors and car parks has become normal. One in eight beds are occupied by patients unable to go home without community or social support. Delays moving sick patients from emergency departments to a hospital bed, caused an estimated 14,000 avoidable deaths last year. A&E overcrowding means ambulances wait outside to hand over patients and miss 100,000 urgent callouts each month.

Despite its massive parliamentary majority, the Labour has dropped previous promises, sidestepped this immediate national crisis and instead announced partnership with the private sector to reduce non-emergency waiting lists by 2029. 

Why?

Boosting the role of private sector

The private sector is a competitor, not a partner

Restore the public NHS

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