UK PM Rishi Sunak denies to say if he uses private GP

• PM Rishi Sunak refuses to say whether he uses private healthcare.
• Nurses’ union leader Pat Cullen says PM “needs to come clean as public servant”.
• Mr. Sunak was a patient of a private general practitioner office that charges £250.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has repeatedly refused to say whether he uses private healthcare, insisting it is “not really relevant”.

Mr. Sunak told the repeated media outlet’s program that his healthcare was “a personal choice”.

Nursing union leader Pat Cullen said the PM “needed to come clean as a public servant”.

Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, responded that he did not use private healthcare when he was asked the similar question.

In the interview,  made the claims that Mr. Sunak’s choices were of great public interest and that Margaret Thatcher, a former Conservative prime minister, was forthright about her decision to see a private doctor.

Mr. Sunak said healthcare was “something that is private”, adding he “grew up in an NHS family”, with a dad who was GP, and a mum who was a pharmacist.

But when pressed again, Mr. Sunak did not answer the question and instead said, in general, “we should be making use of the independent sector” so patients could choose where they have treatment.

According to a newspaper article from November of last year, Mr. Sunak was a patient of a private general practitioner office that provides same-day appointments and charges £250 for a half-hour session.

According to the most recent NHS statistics, 58% of NHS patients were not seen on the day of their scheduled appointments in November of last year.

As the NHS deals with one of the worst winters in its history, a record high of more than seven million people are waiting for hospital care.

Public employees “need to be transparent with the public whether or not you are using private health protection,” according to Ms. Cullen, the general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing.

“That’s about being open, it’s about being transparent and it’s about honesty,” she said.

Mr. Streeting said the PM’s answer to the question about his healthcare showed him to be someone who did not understand the biggest crisis in NHS history.

He said private healthcare created a two-tier system, but patients were free to make their own choices about treatment.

There will probably be a political controversy regarding Mr. Sunak’s personal healthcare preferences, according to presenter.

Mr. Sunak listed reducing NHS waiting lists as one of his main goals in his address ringing in the new year this week. Since then, he has met with medical authorities to discuss how to resolve the situation.

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