Rishi Sunak has appointed a non-public healthcare lobbyist with hyperlinks to a sequence of controversial shoppers to advise him in Downing Street, elevating issues over additional privatisation throughout the NHS.

Bill Morgan, a founding companion of the PR and lobbying agency Evoke Incisive Health, joined No 10 as a well being coverage adviser earlier this month the place he’s believed to be serving to drive via NHS efficiencies.

He was beforehand an adviser to the Department of Health and Social Care for 2 months however continued as senior counsel to Incisive Health on the similar time, in accordance with his LinkedIn web page, elevating questions over a possible battle of curiosity between his public position and the corporate’s shoppers.

In a speech to the Confederation of British Industry final week, Sunak underlined his dedication to the well being service, saying: “When it comes to the NHS, we all share the same ambition … to give everybody in the country the best possible care, free at the point of use.”

However, there was renewed give attention to the prime minister’s views on personal healthcare after the Guardian reported he was registered with a non-public GP who expenses £250 for a session.

Morgan’s arrival at No 10 will throw the highlight on a few of his extra controversial shoppers throughout his 9 years at Evoke Incisive Health. Virgin Care was one when it controversially sued the NHS after shedding out to a rival group of in-house NHS suppliers and a social enterprise agency on an £82m contract to offer youngsters’s medical providers in Surrey in 2016.

The firm, which claimed there have been “serious flaws in the procurement process”, later secured an out-of-court settlement. Six scientific commissioning teams and NHS England paid Virgin Care £1.57m. Surrey county council handed over one other £440,000 and a minimum of £243,000 extra was diverted from frontline NHS providers to cowl authorized charges.

Another Incisive Health shopper, the personal psychological healthcare supplier Cygnet, ran Whorlton Hall specialist hospital in County Durham, the place 10 workers had been arrested in 2019 after a BBC Panorama documentary uncovered cruelty and abuse in direction of folks with autism and studying disabilities. The 17-bed hospital, which it had taken over months earlier than, was later closed.

Another Cygnet hospital, Bury Hudson, was positioned into particular measures in September and ordered to enhance security after its general efficiency was judged to be “inadequate”, after an inspection by the Care Quality Commission in June when inspectors mentioned sufferers informed them they had been being “bullied and abused by their peers and staff members” and that they didn’t really feel protected on wards.

Sara Gorton, head of well being on the union Unison, mentioned: “Appointments like this will do nothing to reassure the public that the NHS isn’t in the government’s sight-lines for more privatisation. Ministers should be putting patients’ interests first rather than ideology and private businesses.”

The Guardian understands that Morgan, whose appointment was cleared by the Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics staff, has now bought his stake within the agency.

Morgan’s former firm additionally represents the Independent Healthcare Providers Network, which was shaped in 2005 to offer a voice for personal well being corporations.

Evoke Incisive Health represents a number of companies which have received main contracts throughout the NHS, together with Orchard Therapeutics, Guardant Health and Spirit Health. They have additionally labored with the General Medical Council, the Global Lung Cancer Coalition and the marketing campaign group 38 levels.

A authorities supply mentioned: “This government has delivered record investment in the NHS and record numbers of doctors and nurses who work within it. It will never be for sale to the private sector.” Evoke Incisive Health declined to remark.