IN MYVIEW... RATIONINGBASIC OPSTOSAVECASHRUINSLIVES

IN THE health service, the pressures on funding are immense. But what people may not realise is the extent to which certain treatments are being rationed, which is reducing quality of life for many.

The restrictions on the treatment for cataracts, for example, are a matter of record: NICE guidelines state that cataract surgery is cost-effective and should not be restricted to severe cases, yet an investigation in The BMJ revealed that, across the nation, patients with cataracts are being screened and denied treatment.

Meanwhile, other forms of rationing are more subtle.

Recently, I was in a taxi heading to the airport when the driver asked me to comment on the painful restriction of movement affecting his shoulder. The pain had deprived him of sleep for many months.

I explained the need for treatment to be based on accurate diagnosis and urged him to see his GP. He said he had an appointment, but that it was not for six weeks — that was the waiting list just to see his GP.

At the airport, I commiserated with a young woman for having such a bad cold she was unable to breathe through her nose. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘my nose has been completely blocked for a couple of years. I am due to have a CT scan in February’ — eight months away.

I told her that I hoped she was suffering only from nasal polyps and that a simple operation would resolve the symptoms.

Her response further shocked me: her consultant had said that if it was nasal polyps, she would not be eligible for treatment, as ‘no one ever died of that condition’.

Have we such an impoverished NHS that quality of life and the ability to breathe well and sleep comfortably are of no consequence? Have we lowered our standards so far?

We hear much about the great advances in medicine, but we must not lose sight of the basics.