NHS funding squeeze 'making it harder to access hip and knee surgery'

People witharthritis and other joint health problems are finding it increasingly difficult to access surgical treatment due to the current squeeze on NHS funding. This is according to a new investigation by the British Medical Journal, which has indicated that hospitals are having to apply for exceptional funding for an increasingly wide range of treatments, as many procedures that were once considered to be routine are no longer being funded as standard. Growing limitations on routine surgical procedures Data collected for the report under a freedom of information request show that doctors had to make 73,900 individual funding requests to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) last year. This is a 47 per cent rise from 2013-14, while in the past 12 months alone, the number of requests rose by more than 20 per cent. Overall, 52 per cent the requests made in 2016-17 were approved, but even those who were granted access to treatment often had to wait several months for it, resulting in stress and additional pain. Hip and knee surgery are becoming particularly difficult to obtain through the NHS, as the number of exceptional funding requests for these procedures rose from 49 to 899 between 2013-14 and 2016-17. The impact of constrained funding It is widely acknowledged that the current financial challenges faced by the NHS are the primary cause of this trend, with Julie Wood, chief executive of NHS Clinical Commissioners, explaining that the issue of funding is becoming increasing...
Source: Arthritis Research UK - Category: Rheumatology Source Type: news