Tories settle for donation from non-public well being magnate who needs to vary the NHS

The Tories have taken a £25,000 election donation from a private health magnate who said we must change how the NHS is funded.

Wol Kolade, who was appointed by the Conservatives as Deputy Chair of NHS England, questioned “where the hell” spending rises will end.

The businessman called for a “big conversation” about its future. “We can essentially no longer continue to fund at the rate at which we need,” he told Private Equity News in March.

“When I joined the board in 2018 it was something like £110billion. This year it’s £160 to 170billion. That sort of rate of growth cannot continue. Where the hell is it going to stop? £250billion? £300billion? At what point do you say, will you think about the way we provide this? Is it a mixture of social insurance or some sort of private solution? It’s a big conversation.”

Mr Kolade’s £25,000 election donation at the beginning of this month comes after he has given over £1million to the party and its MPs since 2011.

He is a managing partner of Livingbridge, a private equity firm with extensive investments in the private healthcare sector. The company boasts on its website that it “has made a private equity investment in the healthcare and education sector in almost every single year for the past two decades”. Its portfolio includes multiple NHS suppliers, private dental companies, private care providers and private fertility clinics.