Friday 29 July 2011

Nostalgia Alert! Rationing's Back In Fashion!

Health service trusts are “imposing pain and inconvenience” by making patients wait longer than necessary, in some cases as long as four months, the study found.

Executives believe the delays mean some people will remove themselves from lists “either by dying or by paying for their own treatment” claims the report, by an independent watchdog that advises the NHS.
And this surprises people? It was always bound to happen…

But managers, who are already rationing surgery for cataracts, hips, knees and tonsils, say they must restrict treatment as the NHS is under orders to make £20 billion of efficiency savings by 2015.
Because, clearly, there are no other possible ways of making those efficiency savings, I suppose?

H/T: AC1

1 comment:

Andrew said...

The NHS spends money in 2 massive areas. Staff (training, pay, pensions), and stuff (machines that have to be serviced and replaced, surgical equipment, feeding tubes, airwys, stents, swabs, cannulas, sample bottles, all sorts of of stuff).

The easiest way to save money is by cutting pay, thats been done, not replacing staff that leave, thats on going, and limiting orders of stock, thats happeing as well.

So then what happens is, you don't have the staff to carry out the procedures, and you don't have the stuff you need either, how can you stent somebodies illiac arteries, when the gaffers haven't ordered the stents in??

The result is lists get cut or even cancelled on the day.