Maria Caulfield said use of private sector capacity would be ‘good value for money’ for taxpayer
NHS waiting lists will rise further in the coming months, Caulfield says. She has told LBC she could not promise lists would fall from 7.47 million, admitting the number is likely to continue to climb.
We probably expect, in all honesty, for it to peak in the next few months. We’re almost at the peak but we think it will go slightly higher. But it will then start to come down, and that’s why we’re making announcements like this now so that we are getting that capacity and that infrastructure so that patients can get their treatments more quickly.
But, yes, we’re being honest with people that the total number is likely to rise a little bit more before they start to come down.
We are using the independent sector because they have got capacity. We’re spending about £19bn a year, which sounds like a huge amount, it’s actually only 8% of the NHS budget.
But this is good value for money because not only does it create extra capacity that we don’t have at the moment … but also it takes the pressure off hospitals so they can focus on those acutely sick patients.
Of the 160 that we’re opening, there’s only four at the moment that are being provided by the independent sector. Of the 13 we’re announcing today, it’s eight. So the vast majority is still in the hands of the NHS.
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