Keir Starmer’s Labour formed a government in July 2024. Up until July 2025, Starmer increased private provision of NHS services in South East London by 71%.

Supercharging NHS privatisation

Starmer announced in January that he would increase the amount the NHS uses private healthcare firms by 20%. But in some areas the surge has already been a lot higher. As well as South East London, some of the highest increases have been in Dorset at 51%, along with Cambridgeshire/ Peterborough and Suffolk/ NE Essex at 41% each.

Overall, the increase in private provision within the NHS has been 10%. But that’s only the first year. If Starmer and Labour carry on at such a rate, we’ll shoulder a 50% increase over this parliament. And shoulder it we would be doing, because every increase in private provision is a surge in private profit extracted from NHS budgets.

Successive governments (other than a possible Farage premier) know that ending the NHS as free at the point of use entirely isn’t politically possible. So what they’ve been doing is turning the NHS into a cash cow for the private sector via the backdoor, extracting wealth from the budget itself through private provision. That means higher taxes, worse services and more austerity.

Starmer’s boost to the private sector means that the NHS is now treating around 20% of patients through private profit.

Some areas defied the trend

But it’s not the same in all areas. Some decreased the amount the private sector is leeching from their budgets. Frimley, for instance, reduced its use by 26%. That may be because Frimley Park Hospital received an extension, increasing the number of beds and single rooms. This highlights how governments use austerity to manufacture the argument for privatisation when they should expand public funding instead.

In total, 17 Integrated Care Boards (ICB) reduced their use of private provision. Mid/ South Essex and Leicester/ Leicestershire cuts their use by more than 20%, but for most it was a small decrease.

On top of that, it does not nullify the fact that the overall trend is towards increased privatisation. This has already cost the NHS billions in extracted profit over the years.

Featured image via the Canary

By James Wright

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