A Labour candidate who pledged to end private involvement in the NHS, was the driving force behind an £11m a year health privatisation. Dr Mark Hayes, who is running in Selby & Ainsty, brought in private providers in his role at the Vale of York Clinical Commissioning group.
Hayes failed to declare his involvement in the awarding the contracts and used his literature to pledge to “fight against any future attempt at privatisation” in the NHS. Local Conservatives discovered his involvement through a Freedom of Information request.
It confirmed that he had signed contracts worth £11m a year with two private providers. A total of £8m was paid for orthopaedics care and £3m for out of hours GP care. The contracts were signed as a result of the Health and Social Care Act brought in by the coalition.
Tory councillor, Ian Reynolds said: “Dr Hayes has either got no principles whatsoever, as he has delivered long overdue conservative NHS reforms while vowing to scrap them if he is an MP, or he is just a top level hypocrite, saying one thing as a would be politician and doing the other professionally.”
Sources at Yorkshire Conservatives told Breitbart London that the party is now investigating all the other claims Hayes has made. One party official said: “Hayes was right to bring in the private sector when he concluded they would provide a better service to patients. What we find extraordinary is that he is now campaigning to ban a practise despite knowing it’s the right thing to do.
“What sort of a person would be willing to put dogma above patients, he should be ashamed of himself.”
Hayes is believed to have made a fortune in the NHS. He is rumoured to have earned as much as £185,000 a year, far above the usual salary for his role.