14 February 2003
New freedoms to enable patients to get speedier treatment must be backed up with extra support for elderly and vulnerable patients, according to Help the Aged.
This week Health Secretary Alan Milburn put into overdrive his plan to extend 'Choice' – the initiative that allows patients to receive treatment more quickly by choosing where they are treated.
At a joint press conference with Education Secretary Charles Clarke, Milburn announced the extension of the initiative outside London and the Southeast – where pilots have been running since July – to include Manchester and West Yorkshire.
The event was seen as a Downing Street-inspired response to Chancellor Gordon Brown's attempt last week to set limits on the encroachment of the free market into health and education.
Cataract patients in West Yorkshire and London will be given their pick of hospitals once they are referred by their GP. So far, the Choice scheme has been confined to patients who have waited more than six months for their operation.
From summer 2004, patients waiting more than six months for any surgery will be able to choose from between one and four alternative hospitals. From December 2005, all patients will be able to choose from four or five public and private hospitals when they are referred by their GP.
Jonathan Ellis, health policy officer for Help the Aged, welcomed the initiative but stressed that choice would not be open to many elderly people.
'Older people will need support to take up this scheme, in areas such as transport and other care needs, if they are to have a real choice,' he said.
In a pilot scheme in London launched last July, 70% of cataract patients waiting more than six months chose alternatives with shorter waiting times.
However, Ellis said London was a special case: 'If you think about extending Choice to rural areas, there are challenges in how people get to hospital. It is more difficult than travelling ten miles across London.'
Karen Jennings, Unison's head of health, warned that Choice would increase the NHS reliance on the private sector. 'This will lead to a vicious circle with precious staff and money being drained away from the NHS and the end result will be no choice.'
PFfeb2003
