03.02.17
Cash-strapped West Kent CCG halts non-urgent surgery until April
A CCG in Kent has controversially suspended its non-urgent surgery until April in the latest bid by an NHS body to target access to treatment as an area for financial savings.
The policy, which includes suspending hip and knee surgery, has been imposed by West Kent CCG until the start of the next financial year in order to save £3.2m after it found there was higher demand for elective care than it had planned for in its annual budget.
However, surgeons have slammed the move as “unfair” as the CCG admitted that the measures will “inevitably” lead to delays in treatment for patients.
“West Kent CCG’s suspension of non-urgent surgery until April is unprecedented and unfair,” said Claire Marx, president of the Royal College of Surgeons. “Patients, some of whom may be in severe discomfort or pain, should not be made to wait longer for treatment because the CCG has run out of money and surgical patients are perceived as easily postponed.
“The CCG is trying to make short-term savings which may have major consequences for patients. While patients wait for treatment, their conditions could deteriorate, sometimes making treatment more complex and costly in the long term.”
She also argued that standing down surgeons and their teams is “inefficient and a waste of scarce resource”.
The CCG agreed and began the policy last December but the decision has only become clear after it recently released its board papers.
The papers revealed that the CCG hopes to save £2.1m by not sending patients for surgery at the nearby Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust and a further £1.1m by doing the same to patients seeking private surgery.
“It is proposed that secondary care providers should be asked to reduce non-urgent elective care until the end of the financial year,” the CCG’s board papers read. “This will inevitably mean delays in treatment for some patients.”
The CCG’s cost-cutting measures, which also extend to cataract removals and in-vitro fertilisation, follow a recent lead of CCGs restricting patients’ access to treatment in order to protect their finances.
Last November Vale of York CCG gained approval from NHS England to make smokers and obese patients wait for surgery until they fit certain criteria.
Marx said that the growing use of such policies shows that the financial situation of CCGs is worsening as she called upon the government to be “realistic” about NHS funding levels.
NHS England financial performance figures last November revealed that CCGs had overspent their budget by £240m only halfway through the financial year, casting doubt on their ability to meet their end-of-year targets.
A West Kent CCG spokesman offered reassurance that surgical appointments already booked will be honoured by the CCG and no one with an urgent healthcare need will need to wait for treatment.
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