NHS funding is a national issue

With more delays for patients waiting for non-urgent operations on the way, many patients face a Christmas and new year fraught with uncertainty.

But the prospect of West Kent CCG curtailing or even removing altogether services many of us take for granted – such as IVF or cataract surgery, poses fundamental questions about what the NHS should and should not pay for. It is easy to point fingers but you only have to look at the Chancellor’s Autumn statement and the way it sidestepped any mention of more support for health commissioners and social care to see the depth of complacency in central government.

West Kent CCG has a duty to budget responsibly and invest in health care which provides value for money. It can’t do this effectively if its share of the pot is not commensurate with the rising patient demand across all NHS services.

Cutting back or ending some NHS treatments poses ethical and social problems – for example, should women from poorer backgrounds have even less of a chance of conceiving through IVF than the well-heeled who can afford more cycles? If so, why should someone living in an area covered by a different commissioner get a different service?

All this is happening at a time when across England, the NHS is being told to make cuts of £20 billion by 2020/21 - heralding the most fundamental shake-up of Kent health services in decades.

We don’t have the answer, no one does. But it is time for a national conversation about the role the NHS and its limited resources should play in our society.