Lansley stops trusts cutting NHS operations

(Getty)

Health trusts are to be banned from cutting NHS operations and imposing arbitrary waiting times to reduce costs, the Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, will announce today.

Stung by revelations that hip replacements, cataract surgery and tonsil removal are being routinely limited to help save £20bn in the next four years, he has acted to ban the practice.

Primary Care Trusts will also be prevented from imposing set waiting times for certain procedures in the hope that making patients wait longer will force some to seek private treatment. Announcing the move, Mr Lansley said any PCT found to be in breach of the new rules after the end of March will be subject to Department of Health intervention – including removing senior management.

But NHS commissioners say his decision could be counter-productive as health trusts must still find real- terms savings in their budgets.

In July a six-month inquiry by the Co-operation and Competition Panel found that some PCTs were imposing minimum waiting times of up to 15 weeks for surgery regarded as non-urgent, just short of the 18-week upper limit, to save money. The watchdog said trusts believed longer waits would lead some patients to "remove themselves from lists", which meant they would either die or go private before the NHS saw them.

The CCP found that PCTs were also imposing arbitrary caps on the amount of treatment they would pay for – meaning that key treatments like hip replacements, cataract removals and knee surgery were being rationed even if the patients needed them. Mr Lansley said: "If patients need treatment, they should get it as soon as possible, and where they choose.

"That is why we're taking action against those Primary Care Trusts which are behaving in this way."

But Elizabeth Wade, Head of Commissioning Policy for the PCT Network, which represents health trusts said some control over NHS costs was necessary.

"If the Government intends to take action to prevent commissioners being able to take such decisions about local priorities, it must set out clearly how and under what circumstances such action will be taken," she said, adding that it must "acknowledge the impact this will have on PCTs, and new clinical commissioners' ability to plan services for their communities."