The North London Partners is a group of health chiefs set up to make NHS savings for the North of London.
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The North London Partners was set up to review spending across five boroughs – Brent, Enfield, Haringey, Camden, and Islington – with the goal to reduce NHS spending by around £1bn over the next five years.
The cuts will affect a number of procedures, deemed to be of “limited effectiveness.”
One example is of vasectomies, which will now only be available under a local anaesthetic across the board.
The group have described the public as a “barrier” to making these changes.
The North London Partners told City News, “the changes are to ensure GPs apply best practice when treating patients.”
“Asking the public is not appropriate.”
Public consultation has been restricted only to Enfield, where there has already been backlash.
Before Christmas, the Enfield Clinical Commissioning Group held a consultation with its patients over the changes, leading to a “total rejection” of the proposals to scale back funding for hearing aids and knee replacements.
One procedure set to be highly restricted in Camden is bunion surgery, with only patients in “persistent pain” and those who have spent at least six months on painkillers able to access treatment.
John Lipetz, a watchdog for the group, told City News, “the cuts are dangerous for patients – it reduces the judgement of the GPs to a formula, and to do it by formula is wrong.”
“They have made it clear that patients would not be consulted.”
“If it’s going to impact their health, there should be proper consultation, no question.”
The changes will be discussed further at a Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting at Islington Town Hall on 23rd March.
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HeadlineNorth London health chiefs block public consultations amid cuts
Short HeadlinePublic consultations blocked in North London NHS cuts
Standfirst
The North London Partners was set up to review spending across five boroughs – Brent, Enfield, Haringey, Camden, and Islington – with the goal to reduce NHS spending by around £1bn over the next five years.
The cuts will affect a number of procedures, deemed to be of “limited effectiveness.”
One example is of vasectomies, which will now only be available under a local anaesthetic across the board.
The group have described the public as a “barrier” to making these changes.
The North London Partners told City News, “the changes are to ensure GPs apply best practice when treating patients.”
“Asking the public is not appropriate.”
Public consultation has been restricted only to Enfield, where there has already been backlash.
Before Christmas, the Enfield Clinical Commissioning Group held a consultation with its patients over the changes, leading to a “total rejection” of the proposals to scale back funding for hearing aids and knee replacements.
One procedure set to be highly restricted in Camden is bunion surgery, with only patients in “persistent pain” and those who have spent at least six months on painkillers able to access treatment.
John Lipetz, a watchdog for the group, told City News, “the cuts are dangerous for patients – it reduces the judgement of the GPs to a formula, and to do it by formula is wrong.”
“They have made it clear that patients would not be consulted.”
“If it’s going to impact their health, there should be proper consultation, no question.”
The changes will be discussed further at a Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting at Islington Town Hall on 23rd March.
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