Charges SLAMMED: NHS patients can JUMP queue for eye ops - if they pay through the nose

PATIENTS looking to jump the queue for cataract surgery are being overcharged by up to three times the cost of an NHS operation, it has been claimed.



By Tom Batchelor

PUBLISHED: 07:37, Fri, Apr 10, 2015 | UPDATED: 23:10, Fri, Apr 10, 2015





Some hospitals are demanding up to £2,700 for treatment on just one eye, as the cash-strapped health service attempts to ration the procedure.

Currently, the NHS prioritises cataract surgery for those who are struggling to carry out daily tasks because of the condition.

But a report published today suggests as many as half of hospitals offer patients the chance to pay up front for treatment in order to skip the queue.

Freedom of Information figures obtained by the Daily Mail from 78 hospital trusts in England show 41 allowed patients to self-fund the straightforward 45 minute operations.

It found that trusts were charging up to three times more than the standard cost of between £800 and £900 per eye.

Charity bosses have slammed the practice as “shameful”, amid claims cataract operations were becoming "harder to access" on the health service.



It's shameful that people are being asked to consider funding their own treatment when they are entitled to it for free, and in a timely manner, on the NHS

Clara Eaglen, RNIB


The NHS offers surgery for cataracts, a clouding of the eye's lens causing impaired vision, once a person struggles to read or drive and more than 300,000 procedures are performed each year.

According to the paper, the figures showed hospitals offering paid-for operations typically charged between £700 and £1,000 per eye but Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey charged £2,552 and Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust in Kent billed patients £2,700.

One hospital, University Hospital Southampton, said patients could opt to pay for the surgery if they did not qualify for it on the NHS.

Clara Eaglen, of the Royal National Institute of Blind People, said: "It's shameful that people are being asked to consider funding their own treatment when they are entitled to it for free, and in a timely manner, on the NHS.

“We strongly believe that everyone who has a sight-threatening condition deserves early access to treatments."


Caroline Abrahams, of Age UK, added: "In the last few years it has become harder to access cataract surgery as people are forced to wait for their sight to significantly deteriorate before getting help.

"It is extremely worrying if people whose sight is starting to fail feel the only way to get help quickly is to pay for it."

Data released by health analysis firm Dr Foster in 2013 suggested the number of cataract operations started dropping in 2009 - in 2008 there were 326,456 compared with 321,957 in 2012.

NHS guidelines state: “There are no national guidelines stating what your level of vision needs to be before cataract surgery is carried out, although individual NHS clinical commissioning groups may have their own criteria outlining when cataract surgery should be offered.”

In details on University Hospital Southampton's website it said: "Our cataract choice service offers a new option, between the traditional private sector and the NHS, bringing private healthcare within the reach of many more people.

"Surgery will be offered much sooner than the usual NHS wait and we predict that the wait will come down even further as more people take advantage of this service.

"The price for this service is 1,400, with a significant proportion of the fee going back to support the Eye Unit."
www.express.co.uk/news/uk/569518/NHS-patients-overcharged-skip-queue-cataract-surgery

Well, this is England's National Health Insurance program, not ours......yet. But this is the problem with national healthcare in general - or any type of government interference. Insurance needs to remain a private product on the free market.

I know. I do not understand trying to emulate countries that have fallen as world powers.

lilyofcourse wrote:

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Because the mentality of "it'll never happen here" is too wide spread.

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Better than "the sky is falling" a dozen times a day.

IMHO

flan 

This is actually not new at all.

When I was selling pacemakers (around 1980) the British National Health Service was refusing to pay for pacemaners

for anyone age 60 or older, because those people would be retiring (or already were) and would not be productive.

So it was considered a waste of money.

 

 

ed11563 wrote:

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I've known physicians with offices on Park Avenue in Manhattan,

who specialize in "diseases of the wealthy".

Their offices, waiting rooms (with original, expensive paintings on the walls and beautiful antique furniture)

were GORGEOUS!!!

 

And I was told that patients paid on their own, no insurance.

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We call that concierge medicine around here. Pay an annual fee and you can get certain benefits like quicker appointments.

flan327 wrote:

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lilyofcourse wrote:

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Because the mentality of "it'll never happen here" is too wide spread.

---

Better than "the sky is falling" a dozen times a day.

IMHO

flan 

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A mentality of willful ignorance (aka "it'll never happen here") is not better. 

Lawyerlady wrote:

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chef wrote:

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flan327 wrote:

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lilyofcourse wrote:

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Because the mentality of "it'll never happen here" is too wide spread.

---

Better than "the sky is falling" a dozen times a day.

IMHO

flan 

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A mentality of willful ignorance (aka "it'll never happen here") is not better. 

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 I agree.  History has PROVEN it can happen.  Ignoring that is just putting your head in the sand.

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 You have no idea how much I hear this.  People praise Obamacare on one hand and on the other say "Single payer system?  It'll never happen here."  We're already on our way there!