Britain’s NHS Turns to Rationing

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