UNIONS, patient and staff groups have urged the NHS’s new chief executive to rule out a return to private finance to the health service.

Unite, GMB, Keep Our NHS Public, We Own It, Just Treatment and doctors-led group EveryDoctor warned Sir James Mackay that the move would be repeat a historic failure and be an “irreconcilable” conflict with the NHS’s public service ethos.

Their call, published in an open letter today, follows the resignation of former chief executive Amanda Pritchard, who previously called for new private finance in the NHS to build new hospitals.

Welcoming Sir Mackey to the new role, they urged him to “rule out new private finance in the NHS and work with us to encourage the government to directly increase capital investment for our NHS, in addition to properly funding staff pay and conditions.”

They said that “the NHS’s interest in providing the highest quality care to patients without a concern for profit is irreconcilable with private finance’s primary interest in making profit from such deals.”

GMB national secretary Rachel Harrison said: “Time and time again we’ve seen that private money and public health should be nowhere near each other.

“From ruinous PFI hospitals, to shadowy private health care firms hiving off lucrative contracts leaving the NHS to pick up the pieces — profit-chasing has no place in our health service.”

We Own It lead campaigner Johnbosco Nwogbo said: “You can’t provide world-class healthcare on the cheap, and you can’t rely on the private sector to fill the gaps — it never works.

“Our research shows that the NHS repairs backlog of £13.8 billion is dwarfed by the £44bn still owed on PFI contracts.”

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has expressed openness to using private finance to rebuild NHS facilities.