§ 7. Mr. Mark Hoban (Fareham)How many people have funded their operations themselves in the past year. [43723]
§ The Minister of State, Department of Health (Mr. John Hutton)We do not collect information on the number of people who have operations performed privately in the independent sector, nor on the source of funding for those operations.
§ Mr. HobanGiven that independent health care companies calculate that there has been a 30 per cent. increase in the number of people who are paying for their own operations, are the Government proud of the fact that they have created a two-tier health service in which those who can pay do so, and those who cannot pay are left on longer and longer waiting lists for out-patient appointments and operations?
§ Mr. HuttonThis is all getting slightly ridiculous. The policy that the hon. Gentleman describes is the Conservative policy to encourage greater take-up of the private sector. That is not our policy. It is worth pointing out to the hon. Gentleman and to his hon. Friends, who appear to be unaware of it, that the NHS is treating more people and that waiting lists and waiting times are coming down. That is very much what we want to achieve and that is where the investment is going in order to produce the results that the hon. Gentleman and others want.
As regards the private sector, there is a strong case, where it represents value for money, for using spare capacity in the private sector to shorten waiting times for 699 NHS patients and to give them a good and sensible result. I should have thought that the hon. Gentleman would at least be able to support that initiative.
§ Mr. Oliver Heald (North-East Hertfordshire)Does not the Minister agree that the huge rise in the number of people who are paying for their own operations highlights the dilemma of patients in having to decide whether to wait for months in pain and fear for an operation or to use their life savings to pay for it? Is not that choice creating the two-tier health service that we have today-a tier of those who wait and a tier of those who pay, neither really able to afford it?
§ Mr. HuttonI thought that when we heard from the hon. Member for Fareham (Mr. Hoban) we had reached rock bottom, but obviously I was wrong. This is preposterous hypocrisy by Conservative Members, who never showed any interest in or concern about such issues when they were responsible for running the affairs of the NHS. [Interruption.] They did not do better; they did substantially worse. The way to deal with the issues is not to indulge in such ludicrous, absurd posturing, but to keep the investment going in, keep the reforms on track, and, as we do so, ensure that we reduce waiting lists and times and treat more patients on the NHS. That is what we are committed to doing and that is what we are delivering.