Norwich councillor and Labour’s candidate for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket, Peter Prinsley, has made a lot of his working for the NHS in the campaign so far. An “NHS doctor” working as a surgeon at two Norfolk hospitals, his promotional material says: “I am an NHS doctor with a sense of social responsibility and fairness. My father was an NHS doctor and my son is an NHS doctor. We are an NHS Labour family.” He’s certainly made the point – one in every ten words there is “NHS”…
What hasn’t made it onto Prinsley’s campaign material is his extensive private work at a third location – Spire Norwich Hospital. Every Friday Prinsley runs a clinic for private patients with cash to spend on treatment. What would Starmer say?
Spire Healthcare made a tidy £1.4 billion in revenue last year. Interestingly Prinsley complained some years ago to The Times that private providers “pick away at those aspects of elective care likely to generate a profit” and damage the NHS. Presumably he will change position again once his payroll is covered fully by the taxpayer in the Commons…
A sobering article in Wales’ Western Mail describes the abject failure of cancer treatment in Wales. Macmillan Cancer Support warns that in the last few years the Welsh NHS, run by Labour, has been racking up records for late treatment of cancer patients. Waiting lists in May hit a record high as a fifth of the Welsh population sits in a queue for treatment. That’s compared to only one in eight across the border…
The next article over happens to be Welsh Labour’s Cabinet Secretary for Health, Eluned Morgan, touting her achievements in “making our NHS services more environmentally friendly“, including scoring a “Chief Nursing Officer’s Sustainability in Nursing and Midwifery” award for one local health board. Yet another app has been created in order to use less paper. Welsh Tory Leader Andrew RT Davies tells Guido it “beggars belief” that Morgan “is more focussed on this woke nonsense” than the cancer crisis. Maybe Labour politicians should focus on treating patients as opposed to patting themselves on the back for racking up eco-awards…
Speaking at his speech on how to achieve “progressive capitalism” Wes Streeting fired a dig and Andy Burnham:
“Bond markets are not bond villains and fiscal rules matter.”
