Health secretary Jeremy Hunt denies claims over NHS
Health secretary Jeremy Hunt denied claims he is 'privatising' the NHS as he dropped into the West Midlands to back the Tory campaign.
The Conservative minister refuted claims there was a 'backdoor privatisation' of cancer care in Staffordshire.
It follows an attempt by Staffordshire's four Clinical Commissioning Groups, including Cannock and Stafford, to contract out both cancer and end-of-life services in a move worth £1.2 billion.
Labour has said it is the biggest privatisation in NHS history.
But, speaking after a visit to Cannock Chase Hospital Mr Hunt said: "It is an absolutely disgraceful and despicable campaign by Labour. Having presided over Mid-Staffordshire for four years, they are now trying to whip up scare stories.
"Private sector outsourcing growth is half of the rate under Labour.
"The big decision we made was that services should be provided based on what's best for patients, not on ideological preference
"People should not listen to Labour, who got things so badly wrong in Mid-Staffordshire. Privatisation is not happening under this government.
"The number of people taking out private health insurance has fallen. That's a sign of how much better the NHS is now."
Campaign group 38 Degrees says the contract is an 'untried, untested 10-year-long experiment'.
Mr Hunt was willing to pose for pictures with Tory campaigners but the party would only agree to him giving a telephone interview afterwards when he was in the car leaving. Mr Hunt met with campaigners in Cannock Chase, where the Conservatives are fighting to retain their seat, before meeting with David Loughton, chief executive of the Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs both New Cross and Cannock Chase Hospitals.
Mr Loughton has revealed he is prepared to allow his trust to go into debt to avoid having to sack staff.
A report states the trust has a legal requirement to break even year-on-year. The decision to approve the 'high risk' budget comes as it emerged that Wolverhampton CCG is planning to make £3.9m of cuts to frontline clinical services. The proposals have put 135 nursing posts in jeopardy.
