Cambridge MP Daniel Zeichner has welcomed the decision to scrap the team of consultants linked to a series of failed multimillion-pound NHS deals.

The Strategic Projects Team worked on huge contracts including the UnitingCare contract for older people’s service in Cambridgeshire and the Hinchingbrooke Hospital franchise. 

Both of these Cambridgeshire projects collapsed in chaotic circumstances.

The Uniting Care debacle saw the biggest tendering process in NHS history collapse after just eight months. The Care Quality Commission placed Hinchingbrooke Hospital in special measures before private provider Circle abandoned the project saying the franchise was “no longer viable”.

Mr Zeichner has long been critical of the Strategic Projects Team. In an adjournment debate in January 2016 he dubbed the team the “pro-privatisation arm of NHS England” and demanded that their role was looked into.

Mr Zeichner also called for the National Audit Office to investigate the role of the SPT. Their report published earlier this month found “important gaps in the specialist procurement advice” provided by the SPT.

Cambridge MP Daniel Zeichner said: “I am pleased to see the back of the Strategic Projects Team. The work of the secretive NHS privatisation advocates is a roll-call of recent NHS disasters for Cambridgeshire patients. It is now high time for an apology from ministers.”