Health figures including the boss of one North East NHS trust have warned that using the private healthcare sector to bring down NHS waiting lists will not be a successful long-term strategy for the health service.
Speaking at at a "Newcastle Debate" hosted by Newcastle University and on the topic of "the future of the NHS", Professor Clare Bambra - professor of public health at the university - and James Duncan, who heads up the Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Trust both felt that use of the private sector was not a long-term solution to the huge NHS waiting lists.
But the pair disagreed on if using the private facilities was a good plan in the short-term. This comes as the country faces an overall NHS waiting list topping seven million - and figures in both the Labour and Conservative parties are backing use of non-NHS hospitals to treat waiting patients.
