Demi
Mon, Apr-30-07, 03:49
The Telegraph
Hewitt: NHS ban on fat people legitimate
Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, said yesterday that it was "perfectly legitimate" for NHS trusts to refuse some treatments to heavy smokers or patients who are obese.
Miss Hewitt defended the right of doctors and managers to draw up local guidelines on treatment after a survey revealed that some trusts are already banning operations.
The survey found that nine primary care trusts, the bodies which run GP surgeries and pay for hospital treatments, are refusing to give joint replacements to patients who are seriously overweight.
At least four trusts have stopped orthopaedic surgery for smokers, according to the research for Sky News. It said the trusts involved provide care for around six million people.
The survey emerged as Tony Blair prepares to deliver a major speech in London today in which he will declare that Labour has transformed the NHS over the last decade.
Asked about withholding treatment from some patients, Miss Hewitt said yesterday: "Primary care trusts are absolutely entitled to get together with their doctors on any particular area of clinical judgment and say 'these are the guidelines... for this particular kind of treatment'.
"Those decisions are being made by individual doctors all over the country. In a few places doctors have come together collectively through the trusts to put in place guidelines for all of their patients.
"This isn't a matter for managers or indeed Government ministers to decide who gets what operation - it's a matter for doctors and always has been. The NHS will treat you with help to stop smoking if the doctor's advice is that you shouldn't have the operation until you've stopped smoking.
"That is a perfectly legitimate clinical decision. I support doctors making clinical decisions in the interests of their patients.''
Miss Hewitt's comments come amid growing calls for the NHS to take a tougher line on heavy smokers and the seriously overweight. Last summer, a survey found that two in five hospital doctors believed that smokers should pay for bypass operations.
But Andrew Lansley, the Tory health spokesman, said: "Trusts shouldn't have a policy which excludes people from treatment because they either smoke or are overweight, because treatments should be based on clinical needs."
Norman Lamb, for the Liberal Democrats, said: "Patricia Hewitt is being misleading about the real cause of many of these decisions. Often they are made not because of clinical judgment as should be the case, but due to financial pressure."
Trusts saying no
Trusts denying surgery to obese patients: North Staffs, Stoke, Lincs, North Lincs, Milton Keynes, Hereford, West Hertfordshire, East and North Hertfordshire, Suffolk.
Trusts denying orthopaedic surgery to smokers: North Staffs, Lincs, North Lincs, Milton Keynes.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=RKXEAXYLSQ1MXQFIQMGSFGGAVCBQWIV0?xml=/news/2007/04/30/nban30.xml
Hewitt: NHS ban on fat people legitimate
Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, said yesterday that it was "perfectly legitimate" for NHS trusts to refuse some treatments to heavy smokers or patients who are obese.
Miss Hewitt defended the right of doctors and managers to draw up local guidelines on treatment after a survey revealed that some trusts are already banning operations.
The survey found that nine primary care trusts, the bodies which run GP surgeries and pay for hospital treatments, are refusing to give joint replacements to patients who are seriously overweight.
At least four trusts have stopped orthopaedic surgery for smokers, according to the research for Sky News. It said the trusts involved provide care for around six million people.
The survey emerged as Tony Blair prepares to deliver a major speech in London today in which he will declare that Labour has transformed the NHS over the last decade.
Asked about withholding treatment from some patients, Miss Hewitt said yesterday: "Primary care trusts are absolutely entitled to get together with their doctors on any particular area of clinical judgment and say 'these are the guidelines... for this particular kind of treatment'.
"Those decisions are being made by individual doctors all over the country. In a few places doctors have come together collectively through the trusts to put in place guidelines for all of their patients.
"This isn't a matter for managers or indeed Government ministers to decide who gets what operation - it's a matter for doctors and always has been. The NHS will treat you with help to stop smoking if the doctor's advice is that you shouldn't have the operation until you've stopped smoking.
"That is a perfectly legitimate clinical decision. I support doctors making clinical decisions in the interests of their patients.''
Miss Hewitt's comments come amid growing calls for the NHS to take a tougher line on heavy smokers and the seriously overweight. Last summer, a survey found that two in five hospital doctors believed that smokers should pay for bypass operations.
But Andrew Lansley, the Tory health spokesman, said: "Trusts shouldn't have a policy which excludes people from treatment because they either smoke or are overweight, because treatments should be based on clinical needs."
Norman Lamb, for the Liberal Democrats, said: "Patricia Hewitt is being misleading about the real cause of many of these decisions. Often they are made not because of clinical judgment as should be the case, but due to financial pressure."
Trusts saying no
Trusts denying surgery to obese patients: North Staffs, Stoke, Lincs, North Lincs, Milton Keynes, Hereford, West Hertfordshire, East and North Hertfordshire, Suffolk.
Trusts denying orthopaedic surgery to smokers: North Staffs, Lincs, North Lincs, Milton Keynes.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=RKXEAXYLSQ1MXQFIQMGSFGGAVCBQWIV0?xml=/news/2007/04/30/nban30.xml