Four procedures currently available on the NHS in Havering and Redbridge are likely to be dropped because they are deemed a poor use of money once a huge merger goes ahead next year.
Operations to help those with heavy periods by removing tissue from inside the womb, split earlobe repair, herbal medicines and treatment for scarring and hyperpigmentation will no longer be offered on the NHS.
Certain treatments will be limited to those “likely to benefit”.
They are:
* cataract surgery
* breast reduction
* weight loss surgery
* surgery for excessive sweating
* surgery to stop the ears sticking out
* surgery to help breathe through the nose
* Dupuytren’s contracture release for when fingers will not uncurl
* trigger finger treatment for those who struggle to bend finger or thumb
* grommets to help children with “glue ear” hear properly
Seven different clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), the organisations which decide how NHS funds should be spent in each area, will merge into one in April 2021.
This means residents in Redbridge, Havering, Newham, Barking and Dagenham, Hackney, Waltham Forest and City of London will all have access to the same treatments.
Plans published by the CCGs propose some treatments no longer be offered on the NHS after the merger on the grounds that they are “not a good use of limited NHS resources”.
They plan to change the rules for certain other procedures so that “only people who are likely to benefit” will receive them.
A statement on the Redbridge CCG website reads: “At the moment, (treatment) can be different from borough to borough, which isn’t fair for people and is confusing for people working in the NHS.”
Regarding the treatments it proposes to stop “routinely” paying for, it adds: “We believe the NHS should only pay for procedures to deal with medical conditions and symptoms, for people who will benefit clinically from having the treatment.
“This means that people won’t have treatment when they don’t need it and the NHS won’t waste money.”
The CCG in Waltham Forest plans to no longer offer three procedures on the NHS it deems a poor use of money – laser surgery for short-sightedness, injections for non-specific lower back pain and surgery for snorers.
In exceptional cases, a doctor can fill out an Individual Funding Request in an attempt to have the NHS pay for a service it normally does not fund.
And only those likely to benefit will be offered:
* breast reduction
* surgery to stop the ears sticking out
* surgery to help breathe through the nose
* Dupuytren’s contracture release for when fingers will not uncurl
* trigger finger treatment for those who struggle to bend finger or thumb
* grommets to help children with “glue ear” hear properly
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