Private Health Care And The Nhs

EDM number 1436 in 1993-94, proposed by Dawn Primarolo on 04/07/1994.

That this House notes the evidence that the Conservative's health changes are encouraging private health care within the NHS; notes the 10 per cent. annual increase in finished consultant episodes for private patients treated in NHS hospitals which in 1992-93 stands at a record level of 100,000 is in addition to the number of beds in dedicated private wings in NHS hospitals which have increased by 84 per cent.; furthe r notes that the total NHS spending on private hospital providers was ú268 million in 1992-93, a 22 per cent. increase from 1991-92; is further alarmed that the number of people with private health insurance has doubled since 1979 and now stands at one in nine people; concludes that the Government should take concerted action to stop private health care which is undermining the founding principle that NHS treatment is provided on the basis of need not ability to pay, and is contributing to a culture of queue jumping; therefore calls on the Government to commission an independent inquiry to establish the full, unsubsidized, costs of providing private health care within the NHS including the costs of capital investment and training for medical staff; and calls for the abolition of tax relief on private medical insurance which is currently costing the taxpayer ú85 million a year, more than the ú60 cost of reintroducing free eye tests or dental che ck-ups or providing an out-patient appointment, at ú59.21 each, to all the million plus people waiting. (Relevant registered interest declared).

This motion has been signed by a total of 82 MPs.