Maria Caulfield said use of private sector capacity would be ‘good value for money’ for taxpayer
Rules governing contracts awarded by the NHS are to be relaxed and private sector involvement expanded, the health minister Maria Caulfield says. She has told Sky News:
We are using the independent sector because they have got capacity. We’re spending about £19 billion 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 were announcing today it’s eight. So the vast majority is still in the hands of the NHS.
