Sajid Javid: patients on waiting lists need not go private as ‘NHS can manage’

Health & Diet Health & Diet: In The News
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Sajid Javid has urged patients stuck on lengthy waiting lists not to go private, insisting “the NHS can manage it,” as he pledged to use his position as the first minority ethnic health secretary to tackle racial disparities in health.

Speaking to the Guardian as he marks 100 days in the post, the health secretary declined to say when the NHS would be able to clear the post-pandemic backlog. But asked if he would encourage patients to resort to using private healthcare to expedite their treatment, Javid said: “No. That’s always a choice for people that can afford it, and that’s up to them. But it’s not certainly something I would be recommending to anyone. I don’t want a situation where too many more people just stop [using the health service] … because I want them to use the NHS. The NHS can manage it.”

So, not the shaman, then … :017:

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Exactly what does he mean that the NHS can manage?
With waiting lists projected to rise to 13m and consultants, surgeons etc saying that they will never catch up how can his statement be anything other than ridiculous?

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From what I see around here the NHS is not managing. I have two friends who are now going private (bowel problems and the other needs a new hip) and I met a woman last week who just paid over £10,000 for a back operation. Another friend got a new knee in June but waited 2 years and had to go to a hospital about 40 miles away.