Buying influence in Westminster
Lord Darzi led a ‘rapid investigation’ into the NHS for Wes Streeting. This was critical of 2012 reforms but signally failed to mention the impact of the Act in still further opening up the NHS t private contractors. https://weownit.org.uk/blog/nhs-privatisation-and-pfi-what-lord-darzi-review-missed
According the Guardian Darzi’s undeclared interests “include $500,000 of shares and $800,000 of share options in Evelo Biosciences, a US-based healthcare venture where Darzi was a director.”
According to research conducted by Every Doctor campaign “Starmer’s cabinet received more than £500,000 in donations alone from lobbyists, hedge funds and private equity firms connected to the private healthcare sector since 2023.”
The 5 MPs that have taken the highest level of donations from people and companies linked to the private healthcare sector between 2023 and 2015 are:
Wes Streeting……………………………….£179,575
Yvette Cooper……………………………….£165,439
Shabana Mahmood……………………….£136,168
Tom Tugendhat…………………………….£106,297
Rachel Reeves………………………………£94,043
Physician Associates
The BMA reports on its submission to the Leng Review, the committee set up by Wes Streeting in response to huge concerns by the medical profession. Its response notes “allegations that (hospital) Trusts hosting visits by the Leng Review team have misled the national review by excluding resident doctors from the visits, preventing them from raising legitimate concerns around patient safety.”
BMA’s most recent survey of its members found that:
- 95% of respondents want a national scope of practice to clarify what PAs can and can’t do
- 77% of respondents think NHS leaders can’t make the PA role safe
- 83% of respondents don’t think PAs should be able to provide initial care to patients in general practice and the emergency department
- Only 20% of respondents think GMC regulation will improve patient safety
Physician Associates at Lewisham and Greenwich Trust (LGT)
Physician Associates (PAs) are not allowed to prescribe medicines nor to order ionising treatment such as CT scans.
Last December and in response to a Freedom of Information request, it emerged that PAs in the Emergency Department at LGT had ordered 57 CT head scans over the past three years. As a result the Chief Medical Officer ordered an internal review of the hospital’s processes see: https://x.com/juniordoc554/status/1870155408221868423.
On March 23rd 2025 a letter from LGT was circulated on X/Twitter which stated that: “all PAs have now been redeployed or reassigned from their roles in the ED department at Lewisham Hospital”. https://x.com/medicalmodelbri/status/1903768843312353619
However, questions still remain as to what the meaning of ‘redeployed’ is, given that the PAs acted illegally.
Moreover, a previous FoI request revealed that PAs in LGT had prescribed medications. In its reply to the request LGT stated “PAs were erroneously given the same electronic access rights as doctors when EPMA was first introduced to the trust”. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/pas_and_prescribing_ionising_rad_85/response/2739759/attach/2/Response%20RFI%20006984.pdf?cookie_passthrough=1
The question arises: how typical is Lewisham and Greenwich Trust of the confusion surrounding the role of PAs?
Starmer just abolished the NHS, not just the ‘NHS England’ quango
https://skwawkbox.org/2025/03/14/starmer-just-abolished-the-nhs-not-just-the-nhs-england-quango/
This report states that Wes Streeting “has also told ICBs to raise private capital funding. Given that Integrated Care Boards have been told they could rase private capital investment” – see this earlier post:
The abolition of NHS England is yet another further step down the road to privatisation. As Dr Bob Gill states in the Skwawkbox article above : “The NHS has been killed off folks. NHSE has served its purpose. Control has been outsourced to 42 ICBs. The new legal entities are public-private partnerships given public funds and autonomy to decide which treatments are provided and by whom, public or private.”