NHS FOR SALE:
Disgust at Tory plan to flog off hospital land to property firms
THERESA May aims to force the NHS to sell off billions of pounds of assets to property developers.
Under plans which could raise £5billion, trusts will be denied capital funding if they do not co-operate.
The money grab will shut hospitals and A&E units, causing fury.
Deborah Harrington, of the National Health Action Party, said: “This is the biggest ever drive to sell off the assets of the NHS in its history.
“When I read the report I felt physically sick. Theresa May has publicly said she supports the plans. She is trying to divest the public sector of its assets.”
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt had demanded to know if the NHS could raise cash by flogging off land. And Sir Robert Naylor decided that selling “inefficiently used or unused land ... in particular for residential development” could raise £5billion – the sum needed to repair crumbling buildings.
Labour has promised to stop the plans, drawn up in 44 areas of England.
The PM has no qualms however, telling BBC presenter Andrew Neil in a set-piece interview: “We’re backing the proposals in the Naylor Report.”
But public outrage is mounting. Dr Kailash Chand, former deputy chairman
of the British Medical Association, said: “In my view the Naylor report is an outline to sell off the NHS. The proposals are absolutely scandalous.”
Labour’s shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth also slammed the plans.
He said: “Labour have repeatedly warned of neglect of NHS infrastructure. Hospitals are crumbling. The Tory response is to sell buildings and land with no explanation of when the NHS will see a penny.” But some experts supported the idea. Nigel Edwards, of The Nuffield Trust, said the NHS has “a lot of money tied up in land and buildings and selling some of it may not spell disaster.”
Yesterday doctors’ leader Dr Mark Porter warned Tory cuts were leaving the NHS penniless. He said: “The money has run out. This is a disgraceful failure of our patients.” The Mirror exposed a desperate need for more beds, with 2.25 million bed days lost in 2016/17. Selling assets could mean fewer opportunities to increase beds.
But a Conservative source insisted: “We are promising the biggest ever investment in NHS buildings and technology, £10billion.”