21.06.12
Something’s got to give
The news that 125 treatments, including minor surgery, are being restricted on the NHS has incensed Labour, which blames poor leadership and huge financial pressure for the rationing.
The efficiency challenge was meant to deliver savings through better practice, not by simply removing or narrowing the range of treatments offered on the NHS.
As well as running counter to the fundamental aims of the NHS, this could be a slippery slope, as more and more treatments are seen as expendable.
However, with such large targets to meet, something has got to give. Trusts cannot to continue to provide care in the same ways and when struggling to reorganise services there will inevitably be forms of treatment which fall by the wayside.
The NHS desperately needs support to maintain quality care provision whilst producing much-needed savings. In some cases best practice is evident; it is now a case of extrapolating this across the country.
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