Spiralling cost of David Cameron’s NHS market diverts millions from patient care.

Competition lawyers cream off at least £5m from NHS commissioners - the cost of over 5,670 cataract operations, 873 knee operations or 841 hip replacements

New survey shows 9 in 10 hospital leaders want incoming NHS chief executive to make removal of competition regulations his top priority

NHS commissioners have spent at least £5m on competition lawyers in the sixth months since they were set up in April 2013, a Labour freedom of information request has found.

Commissioners are racking up millions on lawyers’ bills a direct result of David Cameron’s decision to force open the NHS to full market forces. The £5 million diverted from patient care to date could pay for 5,670 cataract operations, 873 knee operations or 841 hip replacements - operations that are increasingly rationed in the NHS.

The figures were disclosed as a survey of hospital chief executives by the Health Service Journal shows 9 in ten want the incoming NHS CEO to make cutting back the new competition rules his top priority. The call follows an admission from the outgoing chief that the Government’s re-organisation had left the NHS drowning in a “morass of competition law”.

Labour today restates its commitment to restore an NHS based on collaboration, not competition, by repealing the Health & Social Care Act 2012.

Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, said:

“While the NHS has been throwing cash at lawyers, more and more older people have been denied essential operations and the A&E crisis has got worse. 

“It is taking millions away from patient care and holding back changes that the NHS needs to make. Since April this year, the NHS has been unable to make sensible changes to services without consulting competition lawyers - it is a ridiculous state of affairs that can’t go on.

 "We are beginning to see the true cost of David Cameron’s decision to put market forces at the heart of the NHS. He needs to be reminded that nobody has ever given him their permission to put the NHS up for sale. His re-organisation has wasted billions and put the wrong values at the heart of the NHS. Labour will repeal Cameron’s Health Act and free the NHS from this market madness.”

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