Senior doctors accuse Government of deliberately underfunding NHS to accelerate privatisation plans

The government is deliberately underfunding the NHS in an attempt to speed up its plans to privatise the health service, senior doctors have said.

Members of the British Medical Association (BMA) accused Theresa May and Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, of “consciously” creating a crisis in NHS hospitals while scapegoating doctors “to distract the public from an underfunded service under severe and intense strain”.

This is “in order to accelerate its transformation plans for private sector takeover of healthcare in England”, said the motion passed by representatives at the union’s annual representative meeting in Bournemouth.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, the incoming BMA chair, said the Government’s policy is “deliberate and it does need to be challenged”.

“The Government speaks of new investment but in the same breath asks us to make £3 of efficiency savings for every £1 spent,” he said, adding: “In the name of safety and quality, austerity and savage cuts have to stop.”

The Department of Health rejected the claims, saying Government funding for the NHS was at record levels and the motion approved by the BMA “sadly has no relationship with reality”.

Doctors voted in favour of the motion as it was revealed the Government is pushing forward with plans to sell off an NHS staffing agency that employs more than 90,000 people, saving the health service £70m a year.

The agency, NHS Professionals, supplies staff more cheaply than private firms. It is a private limited company owned by the Department of Health.

Last winter was the worst on record for the health service, with reports of patients waiting for hours on trolleys in overstretched A&E departments around the country.

Dr Nagpaul, currently chair of the organisation’s GP committee, said the general election was a “wake-up call” and called Ms May’s failure to enlarge her majority a public rejection of austerity.

“We are a rich nation, we are a civilised society, the public deserve a safe, civilised health service. We cannot and must not accept anything less,” he said.

“Those that provide care are scapegoated, such as the Prime Minister’s shameless attempt this year to blame GPs for hospital winter pressures.”

However some other doctors, including current BMA council chair Dr Mark Porter, disagreed with the motion, saying the difficulties faced by the health service are a result of bad organisation rather than a deliberate attempt to pave the way for further privatisation.

Dr Grant Ingrams, a GP, told the meeting the current state of the NHS is not due to “political conspiracy, but is due to political cock-ups”, with Dr Porter suggesting government “incompetence” was behind recent failings.

Opening the meeting, Dr Porter warned patients are being “belittled and bewildered” as access to NHS care is worsening.

Shape Created with Sketch. Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis – except themselves Show all 6 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis – except themselves 1/6 The elderly “We acknowledge that there are pressures on the health service, there are always extra pressures on the NHS in the winter, but we have the added pressures of the ageing population and the growing complex needs of the population,” Theresa May has said. Waits of over 12 hours in A&E among elderly people have more than doubled in two years, according to figures from NHS Digital. Getty 2/6 Patients going to A&E instead of seeing their GPs Jeremy Hunt has called for a “honest discussion with the public about the purpose of A&E departments”, saying that around a third of A&E patients were in hospital unnecessarily. Mr Hunt told Radio 4’s Today programme the NHS now had more doctors, nurses and funding than ever, but explained what he called “very serious problems at some hospitals” by suggesting pressures were increasing in part because people are going to A&Es when they should not. He urged patients to visit their GP for non-emergency illnesses, outlined plans to release time for family doctors to support urgent care work, and said the NHS will soon be able to deliver seven-day access to a GP from 8am to 8pm. But doctors struggling amid a GP recruitment crisis said Mr Hunt’s plans were unrealistic and demanded the Government commit to investing in all areas of the overstretched health service. Getty 3/6 Simon Stevens, head of NHS England Reports that “key members” of Ms May’s team used internal meetings to accuse Simon Stevens, head of NHS England, of being unenthusiastic and unresponsive have been rejected by Downing Street. Mr Stevens had allegedly rejected claims made by Ms May that the NHS had been given more funding than required. Getty Images 4/6 Previous health policy, not funding In an interview with Sky News’s Sophy Ridge, Ms May acknowledged the NHS faced pressures but said it was a problem that had been “ducked by government over the years”. She refuted the claim that hospitals were tackling a “humanitarian crisis” and said health funding was at record levels. “We asked the NHS a while back to set out what it needed over the next five years in terms of its plan for the future and the funding that it would need,” said the Prime Minister. “They did that, we gave them that funding, in fact we gave them more funding than they required… Funding is now at record levels for the NHS, more money has been going in.” But doctors accused Ms May of being “in denial” about how the lack of additional funding provided for health and social care were behind a spiralling crisis in NHS hospitals. Getty Images 5/6 Target to treat all A&E patients within four hours Mr Hunt was accused of watering down the flagship target to treat all A&E patients within four hours. The Health Secretary told MPs the promise – introduced by Tony Blair’s government in 2000 – should only be for “those who actually need it”. Amid jeers in the Commons, Mr Hunt said only four other countries pledged to treat all patients within a similar timeframe and all had “less stringent” rules. But Ms May has now said the Government will stand by the four-hour target for A&E, which says 95 per cent of patients must be dealt with within that time frame. Getty Images 6/6 No one Mr Hunt was accused of “hiding” from the public eye following news of the Red Cross’s comments and didn’t make an official statement for two days. He was also filmed refusing to answer questions from journalists who pursued him down the street yesterday to ask whether he planned to scrap the four-hour A&E waiting time target. Sky News reporter Beth Rigby pressed the Health Secretary on his position on the matter, saying “the public will want to know, Mr Hunt”. “Sorry Beth, I’ve answered questions about this already,” replied Mr Hunt. “But you didn’t answer questions on this. You said it was over-interpreted in the House of Commons and you didn’t want to water it down. Is that what you’re saying?” said Ms Rigby. “It’s very difficult, because how are we going to explain to the public what your intention is, when you change your position and then won’t answer the question, Mr Hunt”. But the Health Secretary maintained his silence until he reached his car and got in. Getty 1/6 The elderly “We acknowledge that there are pressures on the health service, there are always extra pressures on the NHS in the winter, but we have the added pressures of the ageing population and the growing complex needs of the population,” Theresa May has said. Waits of over 12 hours in A&E among elderly people have more than doubled in two years, according to figures from NHS Digital. Getty 2/6 Patients going to A&E instead of seeing their GPs Jeremy Hunt has called for a “honest discussion with the public about the purpose of A&E departments”, saying that around a third of A&E patients were in hospital unnecessarily. Mr Hunt told Radio 4’s Today programme the NHS now had more doctors, nurses and funding than ever, but explained what he called “very serious problems at some hospitals” by suggesting pressures were increasing in part because people are going to A&Es when they should not. He urged patients to visit their GP for non-emergency illnesses, outlined plans to release time for family doctors to support urgent care work, and said the NHS will soon be able to deliver seven-day access to a GP from 8am to 8pm. But doctors struggling amid a GP recruitment crisis said Mr Hunt’s plans were unrealistic and demanded the Government commit to investing in all areas of the overstretched health service. Getty 3/6 Simon Stevens, head of NHS England Reports that “key members” of Ms May’s team used internal meetings to accuse Simon Stevens, head of NHS England, of being unenthusiastic and unresponsive have been rejected by Downing Street. Mr Stevens had allegedly rejected claims made by Ms May that the NHS had been given more funding than required. Getty Images 4/6 Previous health policy, not funding In an interview with Sky News’s Sophy Ridge, Ms May acknowledged the NHS faced pressures but said it was a problem that had been “ducked by government over the years”. She refuted the claim that hospitals were tackling a “humanitarian crisis” and said health funding was at record levels. “We asked the NHS a while back to set out what it needed over the next five years in terms of its plan for the future and the funding that it would need,” said the Prime Minister. “They did that, we gave them that funding, in fact we gave them more funding than they required… Funding is now at record levels for the NHS, more money has been going in.” But doctors accused Ms May of being “in denial” about how the lack of additional funding provided for health and social care were behind a spiralling crisis in NHS hospitals. Getty Images 5/6 Target to treat all A&E patients within four hours Mr Hunt was accused of watering down the flagship target to treat all A&E patients within four hours. The Health Secretary told MPs the promise – introduced by Tony Blair’s government in 2000 – should only be for “those who actually need it”. Amid jeers in the Commons, Mr Hunt said only four other countries pledged to treat all patients within a similar timeframe and all had “less stringent” rules. But Ms May has now said the Government will stand by the four-hour target for A&E, which says 95 per cent of patients must be dealt with within that time frame. Getty Images 6/6 No one Mr Hunt was accused of “hiding” from the public eye following news of the Red Cross’s comments and didn’t make an official statement for two days. He was also filmed refusing to answer questions from journalists who pursued him down the street yesterday to ask whether he planned to scrap the four-hour A&E waiting time target. Sky News reporter Beth Rigby pressed the Health Secretary on his position on the matter, saying “the public will want to know, Mr Hunt”. “Sorry Beth, I’ve answered questions about this already,” replied Mr Hunt. “But you didn’t answer questions on this. You said it was over-interpreted in the House of Commons and you didn’t want to water it down. Is that what you’re saying?” said Ms Rigby. “It’s very difficult, because how are we going to explain to the public what your intention is, when you change your position and then won’t answer the question, Mr Hunt”. But the Health Secretary maintained his silence until he reached his car and got in. Getty

A survey conducted by the BMA ahead of the conference found that 82 per cent of people are worried about the future of the NHS, and three in five said they expect the NHS to get worse in the coming years.

Three quarters of those surveyed said they thought the number of services on offer will be reduced and 83 per cent said they believed that waiting times would increase.

A Department of Health spokesperson said: “While of course there are pressures on the front line, the Government has invested record funding in the NHS. Thanks to the hard work of staff, public satisfaction is now the highest it has been in all but three of the last 20 years.”