A fall in NHS waiting lists is presented as a government success (From the NHS to new homes, Starmer’s successes and setbacks, 23 June). NHS authorities have paid providers £33 per patient to remove thousands of them from the lists, many still in great need, and a survey of nearly 2,600 people in England found 16% had used the private sector in the past year.
Fewer names on the lists help the government to seem to “reduce backlogs” and “meet waiting time targets”.
Instead of joining in dangerous xenophobia by praising a record fall in immigration, can we deplore the many thousands of vacant NHS and care posts that we urgently need immigrants to fill? And now there are many thousands of missing overseas students. They used to help to fund our universities, besides making lifelong friendships that support creative, peaceful, international networks.
Andy Burnham talks of nationalising water, but he does not question the current outsourcing/privatising and PFI plans in the NHS. How long will the NHS survive under a Burnham-Streeting government?
Priscilla Alderson
Professor emerita, University College London
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