Hunt Vs Hawking – round three: Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s spat with Stephen Hawking rolls on as he slams …

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said Stephen Hawking’s NHS claims were ‘wrong’
Hawking last week warned the NHS was at risk of privatisation under the Tories
The 75-year-old physicist accused Hunt of cherry-picking research findings
Mr Hunt called Hawking’s claim that NHS was heading to privatisation ‘incorrect’
Hunt said that no one should ‘bury our heads in the sand’ over NHS standards

Kelly Mclaughlin For Mailonline

Published:
17:10 BST, 27 August 2017

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Updated:
21:57 BST, 27 August 2017

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Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has returned to the fray in his spat with Stephen Hawking, issuing a detailed rebuttal of the world-renowned scientist’s claim that the NHS was at risk of privatisation under the Tories.

Professor Hawking used a high-profile lecture last week to warn that the Government was taking the health service towards a US-style insurance system.

The 75-year-old physicist, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 1962 and said he ‘would not be here today if it were not for the service’, also took Mr Hunt to task over his plans for a seven-day NHS, accusing him of cherry-picking research findings which backed his case.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt criticised Stephen Hawking's claims that the NHS was at risk of privatisation under the Tories

Professor Hawking used a high-profile lecture last week to warn that the Government was taking the health service towards a US-style insurance system

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt criticised Stephen Hawking’s claims that the NHS was at risk of privatisation under the Tories. Professor Hawking used a high-profile lecture last week to warn that the Government was taking the health service towards a US-style insurance system

Prof Hawking has won the backing of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, but Mr Hunt used a series of tweets to say he was wrong about the research findings.

Now, the Health Secretary has used an article on The Guardian’s website to counter his argument in detail.

‘I am afraid Professor Stephen Hawking… is once again wrong in his characterisation of government policy towards the NHS,’ said Mr Hunt.

‘He does not deny that it has record funding or record numbers of doctors and nurses, but describes these as a “distraction”.

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‘Such figures surely are crucial evidence if he is arguing, as he did last weekend in a speech at the Royal Society of Medicine, that the direction of the NHS is heading towards a US-style insurance system.

‘Such systems – which he seems to now concede are not Government policy – rely on individuals, and not the state, paying for their healthcare. If that was the direction of travel, the state would be spending less, not more, on the NHS.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt first took to Twitter to respond to Prof Hawking's attack on the Tory Party

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt first took to Twitter to respond to Prof Hawking’s attack on the Tory Party

Mr Hunt has cited studies showing higher death rates at weekends when setting out his argument for a seven-day health service

Prof Hawking has won the backing of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, but Mr Hunt used a series of tweets to say he was wrong about the research findings

Mr Hunt hit out at Mr Hawking's comments a second time and denied that the Government was trying to implement a US-style health insurance system

Mr Hunt hit out at Mr Hawking’s comments a second time and denied that the Government was trying to implement a US-style health insurance system

‘Likewise, more individuals would be taking out private medical insurance – again, the opposite is the case. Although there was indeed a small rise last year, overall there has been a dramatic drop in private medical insurance since 2009.’

Mr Hunt rejected as ‘incorrect’ Prof Hawking’s claim that new ‘accountable care organisation models’ in some parts of the NHS represented a step towards an insurance-based system.

‘This has absolutely nothing to do with the funding model of the NHS, which will remain a single-payer taxpayer-funded system free at the point of use – and should do forever as far as I’m concerned,’ he said.

Mr Hunt insisted that no-one should ‘bury our heads in the sand’ over standards of weekend care, claiming that most doctors ‘in their hearts’ would prefer their loved ones to be admitted midweek.

Ignoring clinicians’ concerns about the weekend care gap would be ‘a betrayal of duty by a health secretary’, he said.

Prof Hawking, who is director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge, renewed criticism of Mr Hunt for 'cherry-picking' scientific research into the so-called 'weekend effect'

Prof Hawking, who is director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge, renewed criticism of Mr Hunt for ‘cherry-picking’ scientific research into the so-called ‘weekend effect’

He added: ‘I admire and respect Stephen Hawking, and have offered to meet him to discuss these issues further, because I believe – whatever our disagreements – that we both believe in the NHS, and share a passion that it should be the safest and best healthcare system in the world.’

Prof Hawking, who is director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge, renewed criticism of Mr Hunt last week for ‘cherry-picking’ scientific research into the so-called ‘weekend effect’.

The Health Secretary had used his drive to create a seven-day NHS as one of the main reasons for reforming junior doctors’ contracts – which led to the biggest walkout of doctors in NHS history.

Mr Hunt has cited studies showing higher death rates at weekends when setting out his argument for a seven-day health service.

But Prof Hawking accused him of suppressing contradictory research to suit his argument.

He wrote: ‘Hunt had cherry-picked research to justify his argument. For a scientist, cherry-picking evidence is unacceptable.

‘When public figures abuse scientific argument, citing some studies but suppressing others to justify policies they want to implement for other reasons, it debases scientific culture.

‘One consequence of this sort of behaviour is that it leads ordinary people to not trust science at a time when scientific research and progress are more important than ever.’

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