Obese patients face NHS surgery ban to save money

[El Cid]

Obese patients will be refused surgery for up to a year as part of efforts to save money, an NHS commissioning group in North Yorkshire has said.

 

Officials at the Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group said the decision came at a time when the local system was under "severe pressure". The move will see a ban on, for example, hip and knee operations.

 

The Royal College of Surgeons described the restrictions as some of the most severe the modern NHS has ever seen.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-37265752

 

I am sure this will be over-turned by someone higher up, very quickly.

[Robin-H]

Also, this only concerns elective surgery, so anything that is life threatening will still be treated as normal.

[El Cid]

Hope not.

 

It might just spur some into eating fewer cakes and kebabs

 

If someone has a health issue, it should be tackled, regardless of surgery and money.

[Bob Arctor]

If they can't be bothered to look after their body then the back of the queue is good enough.

 

Same for injured climbers, mountain bikers? Bad drivers? Smokers?

Edited September 3, 2016 by Bob Arctor

[dangerousedd]

so that would be death for lots of cancer patients then, are you including people affected by second hand smoke too?

[Bob Arctor]

Smokers and heavy drinker's definitely.

 

They take a long term decision to slowly ruin their body

 

---------- Post added 03-09-2016 at 10:17 ----------

 

Remember it's accident and emergency. That covers all the sporting injury.

 

It's not accident emergency and the greedy

 

But mountain bikers and climbers could choose to go for a gentle stroll in the countryside, right? Much safer. Same for horse riders. And A&E isn't the entirety of the NHS of course.

[Astraeus]

Brilliant and well-principled decision. I applaud the Group for having the courage to implement such a sensible policy which will no doubt be derided by the slovenly layabouts whom it will affect.

[BHRemovals]

Id someone is prepared to put more effoet into helping themselves, they should be given priority.

[Robin-H]

so that would be death for lots of cancer patients then, are you including people affected by second hand smoke too?

 

Did you read the article (or my earlier comment). This only applies to elective surgery - it will not affect cancer patients at all, even if they weigh 30 stone and smoke 40 a day.

[Bob Arctor]

While it's easy for people to lay into their favourite whipping boys whether that is smokers or obese people or cyclists, if we accept the rationing of health care on the basis of moralising and deciding who is deserving, then we should consider that nearly all of us do things we know are unhealthy or fail to do things that are healthy, so most of us could ultimately be denied treatment on that basis.

 

And also, while this only covers elective treatments at present, if we accept the principle then we can expect it to be applied to emergency treatment at a future point because the NHS will always be looking to save money.