21.06.12
125 treatments ‘restricted’ on the NHS – Labour
The NHS is restricting elderly care to save money, Labour has claimed. A survey by the party reflected a recent report by GP magazine and suggested 125 treatments were being rationed or stopped altogether.
Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said: “In some cases there is a worry here that the decisions to restrict treatment [are] opening up a private market for those same commissioners. We feel that could be fatal for public trust in the NHS. The Government urgently needs to clarify its position on that.
“Right now, a postcode lottery is running riot through the NHS inEngland. We have identified 125 separate treatments which have been restricted or stopped altogether by at least one PCT inEngland.
“Thousands of patients acrossEnglandare left in pain, discomfort or unable to live their lives facing the agonising choice of paying to go private or going without. There is a growing gap between ministers' complacent statements about the NHS and peoples' real experience of it. Ministers now need to act without delay.”
At Prime Ministers’ Questions, the deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman questioned foreign secretary William Hague over the rationing. Hague was standing in for the Prime Minister who was attending the G20 summit.
“How can you justify an elderly person with cataracts in both eyes being told they can only have surgery in one of them?” Harman asked Hague. “What do you say to an elderly patient who needs a hip replacement? Wait in pain or try to pay and go private?”
Hague replied: “The NHS medical director has written to trusts to tell them the only criteria of decision must be clinical and not financial. If evidence is found that they are ignoring that then the secretary of state can intervene. The department of health will look into any cases where they are using financial conditions.”
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