NHS Outsourcing

Preventing profit-making companies from cherry-picking the profitable bits of the NHS is vital to safeguard the purpose of fairness, quality care and public service which define it. The NHS was created under a Liberal design by a Labour Government to serve patients, not to generate profits for private companies. I have continually opposed the creeping privatisation of our health service, which fragments care, often lowers working conditions, and reduces accountability – placing both patients and NHS staff at risk.

You rightly highlight the shocking claim that private firms have siphoned £10m a week in shareholder profits since 2012. I opposed the 2012 Health and Social Care Act (see link). Unfortunately, that Conservative legislation has contributed to the draining of resources away from patient care and has not always delivered the efficiency or quality improvements that private providers usually promise.

The pandemic made it clearer than ever: a strong, publicly funded NHS is the backbone of our society. Selling off services to the highest bidder is not the solution. Instead, we must restore and strengthen our NHS—ensuring it remains free at the point of use, properly funded, and publicly owned.

That’s why my Liberal Democrat parliamentary colleagues and I have set out a clear plan to tackle the crisis in our NHS. This involves investing in community healthcare, addressing the crisis in social care and cutting NHS wait lists by prioritising frontline services and ending such wasteful private outsourcing.

I will continue to use my voice in Parliament to fight for an NHS that works for people, not profit.