Britain?s NHS Turns to Rationing

July 31, 2012

Free Market Foundation

Hip replacements, cataract surgery and tonsil removal are among operations now being rationed in a bid to save Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) money, reports the Independent (U.K.).

Two-thirds of health trusts in England are rationing treatments for “non-urgent” conditions as part of the drive to reduce costs in the NHS by £20 billion (R234 billion) over the next four years.

One in three primary-care trusts (PCTs) has expanded the list of procedures it will restrict funding to in the past 12 months.

Examples of the rationing now being used include:

Hip and knee replacements only being allowed where patients are in severe pain. Overweight patients will be made to lose weight before being considered for an operation.

Cataract operations being withheld from patients until their sight problems “substantially” affect their ability to work.

Patients with varicose veins only being operated on if they are suffering “chronic continuous pain,” ulceration or bleeding.

Tonsillectomy (removing tonsils) only to be carried out in children if they have had seven bouts of tonsillitis in the previous year.

Grommets to improve hearing in children only being inserted in “exceptional circumstances” and after monitoring for six months.

Funding has also been cut in some areas for in-vitro fertilization treatment on the NHS.

Doctors are known to be concerned about how the new rationing is working and how it will affect their relationships with patients, says the Independent.

Source: Oliver Wright, Cataracts, Hips, Knees and Tonsils: NHS Begins Rationing Operations, Independent (U.K.), July 28, 2011.

For text: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/cataracts-hips-knees-and-tonsils-nhs-begins-rationing-operations-2327268.html

For more on Health Issues: http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_Category=16

First published by the National Center for Policy Analysis, United States

FMF Policy Bulletin/ 09 August 2011