BLIND SPOT
DID health secretary Wes Streeting mislead parliament by downplaying the “level of exploitation” of the NHS by private providers? A leaked ministerial briefing suggests he did.
In January, Streeting announced a new partnership agreement between the NHS and private health firms to help cut NHS waiting times. Labour MP Stella Creasy asked him to set a cap on the profits of such firms to protect the NHS from profiteering, citing the planned cap for children’s care homes as a model. Streeting told her he was “not sure that the level of exploitation in either independent healthcare or adult social care mirrors what we have seen, disgracefully, in children’s social care” but promised to “keep a sharp eye on that”.