Forum topic: Enfield NHS commissioners to go ahead with cuts to services at meeting on 20 September
Enfield NHS commissioners to go ahead with cuts to services at meeting on 20 September
Basil Clarke
19 Sep 2017 18:22 #3193
Share
Share by email
The governing body of Enfield Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is set to approve stricter criteria for access to specified surgical procedures at its meeting tomorrow (20th September). The meeting at Holbrook House, Cockfosters, is open to the public and starts at 12:30pm. Campaigners are planning to congregate outside the building from 11:30am to show their disgust at reductions the availability of NHS services masquerading as "clinically evidenced" changes.
The poster used to publicise the AEBM consultation. Hearing aids and knee replacements have now been excluded from the planned restrictions, but there are still a further 11 treatments that will be affectedThe decision follows a controversial consultation on so-called Adherence to Evidence-Based Medicine. However, during the consultation NHS campaigners, led by Defend Enfield NHS and the Enfield Over 50s Forum, were themselves able to produce evidence undermining the CCG's arguments that the changes are being brought in for purely clinical reasons, rather than as part of a set of desperate measures to balance the CCG's books.
"Unnecessary procedures"
The CCG claims that its financial woes are in part due to hospitals carrying out unnecessary procedures. However, a far more plausible explanation is that from the very time it was set up the CCG has never received adequate levels of funding from the Department of Health - a point on which both the Labour administration and Conservative opposition on Enfield Council are in agreement.
Hearing aids and knee replacements safe - for now
Two of the surgical procedures that were consulted on have been removed from the list. Patients with moderate hearing loss will continue to be fitted with hearing aids on the NHS, and the criteria for knee replacements will remain as now, at least for the time being. The CCG is, however, still planning to introduce stricter criteria for knee operations, once better arrangements are in place for patients to access physiotherapy and be helped to lose weight. When that time comes the changes will be implemented without a public consultation.
Stricter criteria to be extended to other north London boroughs
The CCG has stated that the Clinical Commissioning Groups in the other four boroughs that make up "North Central London" - Barnet, Haringey, Islington and Camden - "will be seeking to implement the same proposed changes over the next few months" despite the fact that the residents of those boroughs have not been consulted.
What procedures and treatments are affected?
The changes that were proposed in the Consultation Document will be put in place for the following procedures/treatments:
- Bunions (hallux valgus)
- Hernia
- Vasectomy
- Uterovaginal Prolapse
- Revision Mammoplasty
- Revision of Hypertrophic scars
- Penile Procedures (Penile Implants)
- Cholecystectomy for Gallstones
- Chalzions
- Correction of Ptosis
- Decommissioning of Homeopathy
Links
Meeting in public of Enfield CCG governing body - 12:30 on 20 September 2017
Paperwork for the CCG governing body meeting (444 pages! The AEBM report begins on page 99.)
Previous Palmers Green Community reporting on the AEBM proposals
<h3>Links</h3>
<p>xxx</p>
</div>
<p>xxx</p>
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
Enfield NHS commissioners to go ahead with cuts to services at meeting on 20 September
Sue Davies
19 Sep 2017 20:00 #3194
Share
Share by email
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
Healthwatch Enfield says to resist more NHS cutbacks coming to Enfield in 2018!
Basil Clarke
20 Sep 2017 23:20 #3196
Share
Share by email
She pointed out that feedback on the proposals from the public had been 100 per cent negative, yet the CCG had gone ahead with them. She said that people wishing to have these treatments will in future either have to pay for them or go before a funding tribunal with a small chance of success.
She warned that next year the CCG would be submitting proposals to do the same for no fewer than 197 procedures and treatments, including cataract operations. She urged everyone to register their disagreement with these cutbacks.
Though Patricia Mecinska didn't say as much, it's clear that we are moving towards an NHS that remains free to the user when it comes to emergency and urgent treatment, but where you won't get "elective" treatments, such as hip and knee replacements or cataract removals unless you pay privately. This was in no-one's manifesto at the General Election, but is clearly the way things are going unless something is done to put a stop to it.
On the wider outlook for north London, Patricia said that some departments at the North Mid would be relocated to the Royal Free in Hampstead, though the A&E would stay in Edmonton.
[Edited on 23rd September to remove inaccurate remarks about the CEO of the North Middlesex Hospital]
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
Healthwatch Enfield says to resist more NHS cutbacks coming to Enfield in 2018!
Karl Brown
14 Nov 2017 09:15 #3333
Share
Share by email
https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/audio-video/how-does-nhs-in-england-work
No mention however of Brexit and the promised £350m per week windfall, rather the message is belt tightening and work to keep yourself as healthy as possible.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
