Has this affected you or your patients or family yet?
Some CCGs have introduced new referral gateways, tightened thresholds or added triage systems to further screen patients and restrict the number of patients being sent to secondary care. How is this being monitored, how can we be sure patients do not go undiagnosed? Surely early diagnosis saves money in most cases? Early referral of a bowel cancer patient can save thousands of pounds and may save a patient’s life. How can we be sure that the new policies are based on clinical evidence and the latest best practice and not purely on finance?
Last year a GP resigned as clinical director of his CCG as he felt there was a conflict of interest between his responsibility to his patients and his responsibility to help keep the CCG within budget.
Details obtained under the freedom of information legislation of the 211 CCGs show that in many cases the CCGs have adopted the PCTs criteria for referring patients for procedures of low clinical priority (e.g. Hip replacements, IVF, knee surgery, tonsillectomy etc.) and more than ten percent of CCG have tightened one or more of their policies and a third are reviewing their restrictions currently.
So will patients suffer? Will patients resort to private providers who are well able to fulfill the procedures required by the patients which the NHS has now classed as “Of low clinical priority “The elderly carer who may care for his wife might feel aggrieved that he is last in the queue for his knee operation and by not operating his wife may have to go into a home to be cared for earlier if her husband’s knee is not repaired. Surely this will cost the NHS more in the long run. Are these issues being considered currently?
Send you thoughts to [email protected] … what’s your opinion?