Ex-minister Andy Burnham admits mistakes over NHS

Former heath secretary Andy Burnham today admitted that Labour went “too far” letting the private sector into the NHS.

In a speech to the party conference, Mr Burnham was set to concede that too many care services were outsourced under the last government. He was also set to say that “some PFI deals were poor value for money”.

But he attacked the Coalition’s “forced” and “secret privatisation”, saying that the NHS “won’t last another term of Cameron”.

Mr Burnham will today publish documents obtained through Freedom of Information requests showing that 396 community services in England are being put out to tender worth up to £250 million. He will tell delegates that the Government ordered a third of those services to be outsourced despite local health chiefs previously having no plans to do so.

He was also calling for a return to Labour’s policy of NHS Preferred Provider — giving the NHS the opportunity to improve under-performing services before they are outsourced. “Be warned — Cameron’s Great NHS carve-up is coming to your community,” he will say.

Mr Burnham wants a core of NHS services — including cancer care and high-dependency units — to be entirely protected from any privatisation.

Labour leader Ed Miliband has pledged to repeal the Health and Social Care Act if elected.