Rishi Sunak has refused to say whether he uses private healthcare amid suggestions he is out of touch with millions of ordinary people who face long waiting times for treatment on the NHS.
The Prime Minister said his own healthcare was “not really relevant” and was a “distraction” from his focus on making sure people across England received a high-quality NHS service.
However, he faced criticism from Labor for giving the impression of a leader who “not only doesn’t use the NHS but doesn’t understand the scale of the challenges” it faces. Health worker unions urged him to “clarify” his provision.
The Guardian revealed in November that Sunak was enrolled in a private GP practice which guarantees that all patients with urgent health concerns will be seen “on the day”. Figures from NHS England show that most patients have to wait longer for an appointment.
The west London clinic used by the Prime Minister charges £250 for a half-hour consultation and, unlike most NHS GPs across the country, offers evening appointments and bosses per week, as well as email or telephone inquiries costing up to £150.
Sunak has made reducing NHS waiting lists one of his key priorities over the next two years and has held emergency talks with health leaders to ease the crisis. But under continued questioning by the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, he refused to say whether he had used private healthcare to avoid queues.
“As a general policy, I would never talk about myself or my family’s health situation,” he said. “But it’s not really relevant, what’s relevant is the difference I can make to the country.”
He said health care was a “private” issue, adding that discussing his own situation was “a distraction from what the real issue is, and the real issue is that we make sure there’s a high quality for the country”.
He added: “But when it comes to the private sector in general, we should make use of the independent sector. I have no problem with that.”
Royal College of Nursing general secretary Pat Cullen, who has led strikes to try to get a better pay deal for nurses, told the BBC: “I think as a public servant you should be clear with the public if or you are not using private health cover.
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“This is about being open, it’s about being transparent and it’s about honesty. I think it had to be cleaned. As a public official he is elected by the public, so he is accountable to the public, and when you answer to the public, you have to be honest with them.”
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting, who said he does not use private healthcare, tried to paint Sunak as out of touch.
“I thought the Prime Minister in that interview gave the impression of someone who not only doesn’t use the NHS but doesn’t understand the scale of the challenges and doesn’t have a plan to deal with the fundamental problems,” the MP said laborer BBC.
“Because yes you can gather people around the table in No 10 for a photo shoot, yes you can make more sticking plasters to get through this winter… But we need fundamental change in the NHS to deal with what is the biggest crisis in its history.”