The wife of a Neil O’Brien, a Conservative health minister, works for a private firm that has been handed NHS contracts, it has been revealed. Neil O’Brien’s spouse is GP engagement lead for Circle Health Group, which operates taxpayer-funded services.
Circle Health has 54 private hospitals across the UK and advertises that NHS patients can request to have their operations at its sites. “NHS England Patients can be treated at Circle Health Group offering specialised hospitals with experienced consultant surgeons,” it states on its website. Mr O’Brien is the Minister for Primary Care in the Department of Health and Social Care. He was appointed to the role last September after previously being a Levelling Up minister.
Full story in The Mirror, 19 April 2023