In defending Labour’s proposals to contract with the private sector for NHS treatment, Polly Toynbee’s recollection of the Blair government’s similar approach (Don’t panic when Starmer refers to NHS ‘reform’. He is thwarting Tory moves to destroy it, 16 January) is a good deal more positive than the impression some of us gained from detailed scrutiny of the consequences at the time.
Yes, overall waiting lists were reduced, but at a significantly higher cost to the exchequer than that of equivalent elective provision within the NHS. The government was actually incentivising those NHS clinicians working part-time in the private sector to build lengthy waiting lists as they were generously rewarded for treating patients from them within their private practice.
