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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Denis Campbell Health policy editor

Private hospitals ‘cannibalising’ NHS in England by doing 10% of elective operations

Masked surgeon
NHS England has defended its use of private hospitals as necessary to cut long waiting lists. Photograph: Andrew Fox/Alamy

Private hospitals are doing one in 10 of all planned NHS operations amid patients’ frustration at long delays in NHS care and political pressure to cut waiting times.

New figures seen by the Guardian prompted campaigners to warn that the NHS is “allowing the private sector to make a killing” and is seeing more and more of its services “cannibalised” because years of underinvestment mean it can no longer provide care quickly.

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