GPs believe the numbers of patients asking about paying for operations
including cataract removal and joint replacements has increased markedly in
the last year, according to a poll.
Dr Clare Gerada, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said it was
“incontrovertible” that increased NHS rationing was behind the increase in
going private, a trend she described as “very sad”.
The poll, carried out by ComRes for the firm BMI Healthcare, found that 70 per
cent of GPs are now unable to refer a patient for further treatment on the
NHS at least once a month because they do not qualify under local criteria.
Primary care trusts (PCTs) have increasingly been restricting access to
treatments including cataract removals, hernia operations and hip and knee
replacements, by raising the threshold of how ill or disabled a patient has
to be.
It is suspected that the same will happen under the ACA especially for Medicare patients. Whether that is good or bad depends on what is rationed and to whom.
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