NHS rationing ‘is denying patients care’ as cash crisis deepens

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NHS rationing ‘is denying patients care’ as cash crisis deepens

December 9th, 2015

Awake Goy

Patients are being denied mental health care, new hips and knees, and drugs to boost their recovery from illnesses including cancer as the NHS increasingly rations treatments to try to overcome its growing cash crisis.

A survey of doctors reveals that three-quarters said they had seen care rationed in their area over the last year – including treatments such as speech therapy, operations to remove varicose veins, Botox to help children with cerebral palsy move better and even potentially life-saving stem cell transplant surgery.

Disabled children were having to use ill-fitting wheelchairs, teenage girls were banned from accessing medication to tackle male-style hair growth and women had been unable to access surgery to have breast enlargements or reductions as a result of growing restrictions across England, the research concluded.

Medical organisations said the findings showed that patients were paying the price because an underfunded NHS was having to force patients to wait for care or deny them it altogether.

Dr Mark Porter, the leader of the British Medical Association, said: “The NHS is being forced to choose between which patients to treat, with some facing delays in treatment and others being denied some treatments entirely. This survey lays bare the extreme pressure across the system and the distress caused to patients as a result.”

Almost four in five (78%) of the 749 doctors in England who took part in the survey, conducted for the Guardian by Binley’s OnMedica, a healthcare data and intelligence provider, said patients who were denied treatment suffered increased anxiety as a result.