CATARACT OPS: JUMP NHS QUEUE BY PAYING
But you’ll pay THREE times over the odds
HALF of hospitals are letting patients jump NHS queues for cataract surgery if they pay for it themselves, an investigation has revealed.
Some are charging up to a ‘shameful’ £2,700 for one eye – treble what it costs the health service – raising suspicions that they are ripping off elderly patients.
Cataract treatment is being rationed in England to save money, even though the NHS recently announced it would fund weight-loss surgery for 15,000 obese adults every year at a cost of £6,000 each. Yesterday the Mail revealed how millions was being wasted on prescriptions for suncream and toothpaste. Many NHS trusts have imposed arbitrary rules to determine who is eligible for cataract treatment, and patients who cannot read, sew or
watch television are routinely turned away. Those patients who do meet the strict criteria often have to wait eight months for treatment, over which time their eyesight deteriorates further and impairs basic tasks and hobbies.
Freedom of Information responses from 78 hospital trusts in England obtained by the Mail found that 41 offered patients the opportunity to pay for cataract surgery themselves.
The operation usually costs the NHS between £800 and £900 per eye, but some trusts are charging up to £2,700.
Campaigners accused hospitals of profiting from elderly patients.
Clara Eaglen, from the Royal National Institute of Blind People, said: ‘It’s shameful that people are being asked to consider funding their own treatment when they are entitled to it for free, and in a timely manner, on the NHS.
‘We strongly believe that everyone who has a sight-threatening condition deserves early access to treatments.’
Caroline Abrahams, of Age UK, said: ‘In the last few years it has become harder to access cataract surgery as people are forced to wait for their sight to significantly deteriorate before getting help.
‘It is extremely worrying if people whose sight is starting to fail feel the only way to get help quickly is to pay for it.
‘Cataracts are extremely debilitating and treatment should be based on a clinical need not age or bank balance.’
Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients’ Association, added: ‘The NHS belongs to the people, and all patients have the right to access appropriate treatment at the right time and in the right setting, irrespective of their ability to pay; we cannot and should not have a two-tier NHS.’
More than half of over-65s suffer from cataracts, which are cloudy patches in the lens that make vision blurred or misty. Sight can be restored in a simple 45-minute operation, with doctors using ultrasound waves to break up the cataract. Most hospitals charge patients between £700 and £1,000 per eye for cataract treatment and say the money is spent on improving services. But this rises to £2,552 at Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey and £2,700 at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust in Kent.
Several trusts actively encourage patients to ‘self-fund’.
The University Hospital Southampton’s website informs patients that ‘surgery will be offered much sooner than the usual NHS wait’. It adds: ‘Our cataract choice service offers a new option, between the traditional private sector and the NHS, bringing private healthcare within the reach of many more people.’
Yeovil District Hospital in Somerset says its private cataract service will ‘help you get back to the things you love’.
Patients at North Cumbria are offered free parking and a daily newspaper, while at Frimley Park they can choose from an ‘exclusive a la carte menu’, which includes whitebait and chicken goujons.