Dr John Puntis: key facts
- Kind of voice
- Sector leader
- Role
- Co-Chair
- Organisation
- Keep Our NHS Public
- Organisation based in
- Lewisham North
- Quoted on
- Hospital discharge / bed-blocking
- Tracked press citations
- 1
- Most recently quoted
- 27 Aug 2026
Who Dr John Puntis is
Dr John Puntis is Co-Chair of Keep Our NHS Public (KONP), a national campaign opposing NHS privatisation and underfunding, a role he has held since July 2019 having joined KONP's Executive Committee as Secretary in June 2017. He is a retired consultant paediatrician who specialised in gastroenterology and nutrition at the General Infirmary in Leeds, where he also served as Secretary to the Senior Medical Staff Committee and Chairman of Leeds West Research Ethics Committee. He worked as an NHS doctor for 40 years and is a member of Doctors for the NHS and Doctors in Unite. He is publicly known for arguing against the use of private providers in the NHS, for fully public funding and provision of health services, and has written on these themes in the BMJ, the Guardian, and in parliamentary written evidence.
“The private sector isn't a pressure valve for the NHS. Private hospitals rely on the same overstretched staff, so shifting more NHS money their way only pulls people out of an already thin workforce. The answer isn't outsourcing; it's investing in NHS staff, services and capacity so people don't feel they have to go private in the first place.”
References for this biography
- 1.The Team – Keep Our NHS Public — Confirms Dr Puntis as KONP Co-Chair from July 2019, his clinical background in paediatric gastroenterology and nutrition at Leeds General Infirmary, and his roles as Secretary to the Senior Medical Staff Committee and Chairman of Leeds West Research Ethics Committee.
- 2.John Puntis – The Left Berlin — Confirms he is a retired consultant paediatrician who worked in the NHS for over 40 years, and is active in Doctors in Unite and KONP.
- 3.NHS becoming 'cash cow' for consultancy firms as contracts quadruple in value | openDemocracy — Quotes Dr Puntis as a retired paediatrician and KONP co-chair commenting on NHS privatisation via consultancy contracts.
- 4.Campaigners call for end to privatisation and austerity after damning report on state of the NHS – Left Foot Forward — Quotes Dr Puntis as KONP Co-Chair and retired consultant paediatrician in response to the Darzi Review, September 2024.
- 5.Written evidence submitted by Keep Our NHS Public (HSC0819) – UK Parliament — Confirms Dr Puntis as Co-Chair and contact for KONP's written parliamentary evidence on health and social care integration.
- 6.Press – Keep Our NHS Public — Provides KONP organisational press contact details (press@keepournhspublic.com).
- 7.Dr John Puntis in BMJ re RCP controversy and physician associates – Leeds Keep Our NHS Public — Documents Dr Puntis's published rapid response in the BMJ on physician associate roles and workforce policy concerns.
Notable achievements
- Submitted written evidence to Parliament as Co-Chair of Keep Our NHS Public on NHS and health and social care integration policy. Source ↗
- Helped set up Leeds Keep Our NHS Public in 2011 and chairs its local group. Source ↗
- Published a rapid response in the BMJ on the controversy over physician associate roles and Medical Associate Professionals. Source ↗
- Quoted in openDemocracy on NHS consultancy contracts, in the Morning Star on NHS waiting lists and privatisation, and in Left Foot Forward responding to the Darzi Review. Source ↗
Where Dr John Puntis has been quoted
- Numbers leaving A&E without treatment triples in six yearstheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
Related media coverage
Recent UK press coverage of their topics — not necessarily citing them directly.
Contact & links
- Staff pagehttps://keepournhspublic.com/about-us/the-team/
- Press office emailpress@keepournhspublic.compublished here ↗
Organisational contact points only, each taken from a page the organisation publishes itself. No personal or direct contact details are held or shown.
Chief executives, directors and spokespeople of trade bodies, representative associations and charities speaking for the sector. Citations are counted by an automated scan of UK press coverage and may be incomplete. Roles, biographies and contact details are researched and human-reviewed before they appear here; anything not yet reviewed is simply absent rather than shown unverified. This profile was last updated on 5 Oct 2026. See the methodology for how this page is built, or email contact@bridgeheadcommunications.com to correct anything on it.