Alex Singleton | Journalist and political commentator

I was on Richard Bacon’s show on BBC Radio 5 Live last night to discuss the Government’s plan to involve bring in private sector management in the NHS. Although I’m in favour of greater private involvement in healthcare, like Iain Martin, I took the view that the Government’s specific proposal misses the point.

BUPA and Nuffield Hospitals have distanced themselves from the scheme, which indicates that something is awry. What the scheme is likely to result in is existing NHS chief executives quitting their jobs, setting themselves up as private providers, and then going to work for different NHS hospitals with better salaries.

What is really needed is competition between existing providers and new ones, be they for-profit or not-for-profit. As Tom Clougherty argues today, existing hospitals need to be given more autonomy from the central government.

There was a lively phone in session, in which more generally I defended private sector provision and compared British healthcare with more effective systems in places like Germany and Switzerland.