NHS Ops Delayed Due to Debt

Hospitals across London are being forced to delay routine operations because of financial problems facing primary care trusts (PCTs).

Some patients who could have expected to have had surgery within weeks now have to wait until April, the next financial year in order to limit operations and balance their books.

James Johnson, chairman of the British Medical Association, said the trend was happening "across the country", while the "worst is yet to come."

He added: "It's an absolutely nonsensical situation. Doctors and nurses are available to treat patients, but they can't get on with it because PCTs are under pressure to balance the books. The market system where care is bought and sold was supposed to increase efficiency, but it seems to be making things worse. It's clearly not in patients' interests that there are incentives for PCTs to delay operations."

Johnson also noted that "it makes no sense at all financially" as the hospital still has to pay its staff, but does not get the money from the PCT. "All that happens is that debts are passed from one part of the NHS to another," he said.

The Health Insurance Magazine: 16 February 2007