Rishi Sunak refuses to say whether he uses private healthcare as PM admits NHS 'under pressure'

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Rishi Sunak has refused to say whether he and his family use private healthcare at a time the NHS struggles to meet demand.The Prime Minister insisted today it was "not really relevant" whether he would be prepared to pay for faster treatment.But the millionaire Tory leader admitted the NHS was "undeniably under enormous pressure".Pat Cullen, Royal College of Nursing (RCN) general secretary, called for the PM "to come clean" on whether he paid for healthcare.Asked if the health service in the UK was "in crisis", he told the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg show: "The NHS is undeniably under enormous pressure and I’ve spent today talking to NHS leaders, all day in fact."He added: "Recovering from Covid is going to be tough and we’re seeing that play out on our TV screens every day and in communities up and down the country, but actually I came away from all my meetings today with a renewed sense of confidence and optimism that we can get to grips with this problem."But he refused to be drawn on whether his own family relied on the NHS.

He added: "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.”Cullen, who leads the nurses' union, said: "I think as a public servant, you ought to be clear with the public whether or not you are using private health cover."That’s about being open, it’s about being transparent, and it’s about honesty."And those are characteristics that if you were talking to the public, which I’ve done over the last while on picket lines, that are characteristics that seem to be missing at the minute.It comes as Keir Starmer has defended backing the use of the private sector to drive down NHS