Plunging waiting times reopen dispute over clinical benefits
- Published: 06 December 2007 09:00
- Author:Sally Gainsbury | More by this Author
- Last Updated: 05 December 2007 17:03
The government's focus on cutting waiting lists can lead to resources being drained away from treatments for those in the greatest medical need, academics have claimed.
This week the Healthcare Commission praised NHS organisations for 'genuinely dramatic' improvements in waiting times. But research from the Royal Society of Ophthalmologists has found waiting lists for cataract patients have been driven down so low that patients are now being operated on while their eyesight is still good enough to drive.
The government's focus on cutting waiting lists can lead to resources being drained away from treatments for those in the greatest medical need, academics have claimed.
This week the Healthcare Commission praised NHS organisations for 'genuinely dramatic' improvements in waiting times. But research from the Royal Society of Ophthalmologists has found waiting lists for cataract patients have been driven down so low that patients are now being operated on while their eyesight is still good enough to drive.
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