NHS waiting lists are at record levels, with the number of people in the queue for treatment at 7.5 million. Patients referred to specialists are waiting longer than ever for hospital appointments and vital health investigations. The government’s announcement today that it will use the private sector to help tackle the backlog is surely logical — but it’s not a long-term solution to the crisis facing the NHS.
Health secretary Steve Barclay has announced the creation of 13 new community diagnostic centres (CDCs) that will help provide 750,000 more medical investigations a year to waiting patients. Eight of these will be run by the private sector as part of a government plan backed by Rishi Sunak’s elective recovery task force. The new centres will help to create a network of 160 clinics by 2025 to help patients access investigations outwith hospital.
Barclay’s brainwave is not altogether new: the Labour party used the private sector in the early 2000s to help meet waiting times targets and the Tories did something similar during the pandemic.
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