PMQs: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak admits he has used private healthcare but says he is registered with NHS

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has finally confirmed he has used private healthcare in the past, but said he is registered with an NHS GP.

Responding to a question from Labour MP Cat Smith about dentist waiting times in his first PMQs of 2023, Sunak said: “I am registered with an NHS GP. I have used independent healthcare in the past.”

He added that he is grateful for his local NHS hospital, and “proud to come from an NHS family.”

In the past, the Prime Minister refused to confirm whether or not he had used private healthcare. On Sunday (8 January), he told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: “As a general policy I wouldn’t ever talk about me or my family’s healthcare situation. But it’s not really relevant, what’s relevant is the difference I can make to the country.”

Downing Street also previously failed to deny that Sunak uses private healthcare, saying his medical arrangements were not in the public interest.

The questions about the Prime Minister’s healthcare initially arose amid warnings about the crisis in the NHS. Hospitals are seeing huge waiting times for A&E, healthcare staff are warning of ‘heartbreaking’ scenes, and NationalWorld recently revealed that 420 excess deaths were recorded every day in the lead up to Christmas.

NHS workers are taking industrial action to demand better conditions and fair pay. Ambulance staff have walked out today (11 January), and the Royal College of Nursing has announced that its members will strike again on 18 and 19 January if negotiations with the government are not reopened.