DAUK has signed an open letter requesting Wes Streeting publish communications with private healthcare-linked donors.
The letter follows Health Secretary’s recent decision to release text messages exchanged with Peter Mandelson.
Signatories to the letter, including DAUK, welcomed that disclosure but argued that the same standard should apply to discussions with donors who may benefit from government health policy.
The letter highlights concerns about the scale and source of donations received by the Health Secretary.
Private health donors
An investigation in April 2025 by the Good Law Project, cited in the letter, reported that Mr Streeting received donations from private health companies or individuals with interests in private healthcare at a rate of £10,000 per month.
The letter says that up to 60% of donations to Mr Streeting since 2015, totalling around £372,000, came from these sources.
The signatories are asking Mr Streeting to release messages relating to health policy, Department of Health and Social Care announcements, and NHS contracts exchanged with five named donors, including executives and investors linked to healthcare recruitment, private providers and US health insurance firms.
Public trust
The letter says the publication of these communications would help to reassure the public that current reforms, including expanding the use of private providers in delivering NHS services, are not influenced by undisclosed ‘quid pro quo’ relationships.
Co-chair Dr Ellen Welch, who has signed the letter on behalf of DAUK, said: “Transparency is fundamental to public trust in our politicians and the motivations for their decisions.
“When senior decision-makers receive funding from individuals and companies that stand to gain from health policy, it is entirely reasonable to ask for openness about those relationships.”
The signatories have also requested a meeting with the Health Secretary to discuss their concerns.
Transparency
Johnbosco Nwogbo, campaign lead at We Own It said: “We can disagree in good faith on the correctness or wrongness of any particular health policy, but voters need to know that private sector parties are not clandestinely influencing what ends up being decided.
“This is an opportunity for Wes Streeting to raise the bar on transparency in public service.”
Read the open letter in full below.
Dear Rt Hon. Wes Streeting MP,
Thank you for publishing your WhatsApp messages with Lord Mandelson in order to be transparent about the nature of your relationship. This step was particularly important because his lobbying firm, Global Counsel, has worked for Palantir and other firms that have a direct interest in government policy, including policy affecting the health service, which he was likely influencing.
We the undersigned are writing to ask you to extend this important step toward transparency to persons who have donated to you and with whom you have discussed health policy, DHSC announcements and NHS contracts.
With 60% of your donations coming either from the private healthcare sector, or from individuals with a financial interest in the private healthcare sector, you can demonstrate that your NHS reforms are driven by principle, rather than unaccountable lobbying.
In April 2025, the Good Law Project revealed that you received donations from private health companies or individuals with interests in private healthcare at a rate of £10,000 per month. Up to 60% of your donations since 2015, totalling £372,000, came from these sources.
We are therefore asking you to release your messages with the following persons:
- Peter Hearn, whose healthcare workers’ recruitment firms MPM Connect and OPD Group have given you a total of £197,900. He has also given you £40,000 in his personal capacity;
- John Armitage, a hedge fund manager with investments of half a billion dollars in United Health, the US’s largest health insurance company, has given you £95,000;
- Sir Trevor Chinn, a senior advisor to a firm holding investments in several private health companies, gave you £18,500;
- Kevin Craig, founder and CEO of PLMR a political consultancy that advises a firm that provides temporary staff to the NHS, has given you £13,000, and
- Red Capital Ltd, controlled by a sitting director of Europa Healthcare Group, Lord Jonathan Mendelsohn, has given you £5,000.
Releasing to the public your messages with these donors (relating to health policy, DHSC announcements and NHS contracts) would help assure the public that your policy of increasing the use of the private sector for the provision of NHS services, is not driven by a quid pro quo relationship.
We would be also grateful for an opportunity to meet with you to discuss this matter further.
We look forward to hearing back from you soon.
Kind regards
Dr Ellen Welch – co-chair, Doctors Association UK
Cat Hobbs – director, We Own It
Linda Burnip – Disabled People Against Cuts
John Puntis – co-chair, Keep Our NHS Public
Mark Ladbrooke – chair, Socialist Health Association
Jan Shortt – general secretary, National Pensioners Convention
Dr Julia Grace Patterson – director, Every Doctor
Diarmaid McDonald – director, Just Treatment
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