According to the BBC , Doctor magazine asked readers about rationing.
16% - said patients had died early as a result.
Over 50% said patients had suffered as a result .
They reported not being allowed to prescribe drug treatments including smoking cessation drugs and anti-obesity treatment. They also reported that local NHS trusts had been placing restrictions on fertility treatments, obesity surgery and a host of minor operations, including those for varicose veins.
Many experts fear the situation will get worse with increasing demands on the health service made by the ageing population and expected advances in medicines.
Richard Vautrey, deputy chairman of the British Medical Association's GPs committee, said:
"The NHS could spend whatever you gave it, but it obviously works with a limited budget ...Rationing is the great unspoken reality. The only people who refuse to mention the 'r-word' are the media and the politicians, who continue to want to promise everything for everyone in order to win elections."
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NATIONAL ILL-HEALTH SERVICE
ReplyDelete"One in six doctors have seen patients die because of rationing in NHS resources, according to a new survey. More than half said they had seen patients suffer due to treatment rationing and two thirds said that they had been told not to prescribe certain drugs by their NHS trust, even though the results could be fatal. The survey of almost 1,000 GPs and hospital doctors was carried out by Doctor magazine, jointly with sister publication Hospital Doctor. It shows a deterioration, compared with a similar survey by Doctor nine years ago.Then, it was found that one in five doctors knew patients who had suffered as a result of treatment rationing and one in 20 knew patients who had died." (Guardian, 25 September) After nine years, countless political promises and stirring conference speeches the working class are still treated as second class citizens when it comes to medical treatment. RD