Private interference has dragged NHS satisfaction to a record low, according to the British Social Attitudes Survey.

When David Cameron’s Con-Dem Coalition government took over the running of the National Health Service, it was ranked as the fairest, most efficient and cost-effective health system in the world and had its highest-ever public approval rating – 70 per cent.

Then Cameron’s Health Secretary Andrew Lansley inflicted his Health and Social Care Act of 2012 on us all, inviting private health companies into the system and turning it from one devoted to maintaining our health into one determined to profit from our illness.

Here’s what happened: privatisation diverted NHS resources to profit-driven companies, increased inefficiencies, and eroded public trust. Instead of improving healthcare, it worsened access, affordability, and quality.

Private healthcare providers attract NHS staff with better pay and working conditions, worsening the NHS workforce crisis. The NHS now struggles to retain doctors and nurses, leading to longer waiting times and poorer patient care.

Private companies focus on less complex, high-profit procedures (cataract surgery, diagnostics), leaving the NHS to handle costly, complex, and emergency cases. This weakens the NHS’s ability to provide comprehensive care and increases financial strain.

Private contracts introduce administrative costs, legal fees, and profit margins that drain NHS resources. Outsourcing services like cleaning and catering has led to lower standards and increased infection rates.

More NHS patients are forced to go private due to long NHS waiting lists, fuelling a two-tier system. This benefits private providers while worsening NHS accessibility.

And private providers often operate under different rules, limiting public scrutiny and accountability compared to NHS-run services. When private providers fail (think of Carillion’s collapse), NHS patients suffer the consequences.

That is why public satisfaction has plummeted.

The results of the privatisation craze were most strongly seen during the Covid-19 crisis, and in its aftermath.

Since 2020, the NHS has laboured under long waiting times for hospital and GP appointments, staff shortages, and perceptions of insufficient government funding. Satisfaction with Accident & Emergency (A&E) services dropped to 19 per cent in 2024, and NHS dentistry services saw satisfaction levels fall to 20 per cent*.

Despite these challenges, public support for the founding principles of the NHS remains strong, with 90 per cent of adults supporting the provision of free care at the point of use and 80 per cent favouring its funding through taxation.

But Health Secretary Wes Streeting is deep in the pockets of the private health industry, having taken donations worth £175,000 – more than his MP salary – in a single year (2024). In total, it seems he has received more than £311,000 from such sources since 2015.

These donations have raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest, especially given Streeting’s advocacy for increased private sector involvement in the NHS.

Critics question whether such financial backing influences policy decisions related to NHS privatisation.

So we seem to be caught between a rock and a hard place.

After more than a decade of privatisation-wrought devastation, it seems Labour’s prescription is more of the same.

This is the very definition of madness; no wonder there are no plans to improve mental health.

*This is admittedly due to a bizarre contract introduced by New Labour under Tony Blair. That needs to be addressed with alacrity but Keir Starmer’s Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, is dragging his feet.