Black: Backdoor rationing on the increase

John Black, president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, comments on cost cutting in the NHS to the Guardian:

“More and more NHS trusts are introducing more and more of this sort of backdoor rationing by imposing longer and longer waiting times for surgery on patients, or indeed stopping doing certain procedures altogether.

“This is a dangerous path for the NHS to be adopting, because of the long-term health problems that will inevitably be built up if operations designed to prevent long-term harm are delayed or stopped.

“By reducing elective surgery you can immediately save money, but at the cost of pain, reduced quality of life and deterioration of health. If the NHS continues to save money in this way, we will pay later in terms of future suffering of patients.”