The Care Services Minister, Paul Burstow, has said that it is "unacceptable" that NHS hospitals have been forcing patients to wait for treatment in a bid to reduce waiting lists and cut costs. According to a report by an independent agency which advises the Department of Health, some Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) are deliberately putting off treating patients in the hope that they will either switch to private care, get better on their own, or die.
Burstow said: "This report illustrates exactly why we need to modernise the NHS and increase choice for patients. PCTs will want to take a hard look at practices in light of this report and ensure they are always in the best interest of patients and the taxpayer.”
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley told the Press Association "This is exactly why we need to put patients' interests first. Too many PCTs have been operating in a cynical environment where they can game the system - and in which political targets, particularly the maximum 18 week waiting time target, are used to actually delay treatment." Lansley went on to say that the issue raised in the report would be improved under new coalition plans for the health service:
"When GPs, specialist doctors and nurses are making the decisions, as they will under our plans, they will plan care on the basis of the clinical needs of patients and their right to access the best service, including the least possible waiting time."
Lansley's claim was ridiculed by Shadow Health Secretary John Healey, who said that "Far from being a justification for the Tory-led Government’s NHS reorganisation, it is evidence of the extra pressure their huge upheaval is piling on the NHS."
“Patients are already starting to see long waiting times returning as we saw under the last Tory Government. David Cameron and Andrew Lansley have to get a grip on the NHS.”
However, David Stout, director of the Primary Care Trust network in the NHS Federation defended the practice. He told the BBC's Today Programme "These are routine cases in some cases, we are not delaying emergency treatments. These are cases which aren't emergencies" and asked for the latest findings to be put into a wider context.
"Ten years ago people were waiting longer than 18 months. Now we have an average waiting time from referral to treatment of about eight weeks so we have improved performance very, very significantly over the last few years."
The Patients Association said that the "cynical manipulation" of waiting lists should not be tolerated. Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association, said: "It is outrageous that some PCTs are imposing minimum waiting times of up to 15 weeks. This is unacceptable and aside from the worry and inconvenience it may cause for patients, we are concerned that it will put patients' health at risk.
The report came amid renewed political argument over NHS funding. Shadow Health Secretary John Healy suggested that figures found in Treasury documents showed that NHS spending fell in real terms between 2009-10 and 2010-11. Healy claimed that these figures meant that David Cameron had broken his pledged not to cut the NHS, saying "This proves again what people have seen before: that you can't trust the Tories with the NHS."
Chancellor George Osborne rejected the claim, telling the Guardian that he had followed the previous Labour Government's spending plans throughout the 2010-11 financial year. The Chancellor said: "This is a massive own goal from Labour - attacking their own NHS spending plans.
"Under Labour spending plans, NHS spending fell, under this government's spending plans it is projected to rise - people can draw their own conclusions about who they trust on the NHS."