Health: Treatment Rationing

Lord Ribeiro Excerpts

Tuesday 26th April 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My Lords, the noble Lord will be aware of the Atlas of Variation, which encompasses a new programme, Right Care; it looks at variations in medical and surgical practice across different populations and tries to spot unwarranted variation. That is the best way to identify where different CCGs are not delivering the kind of care that we would expect. In view of what we have just said, I am tempted to say that where an individual does not get the treatment he expects, he should complain to his local Healthwatch. That would be one way to do it but every hospital has a PALS and he could always write to his MP. There are lots of ways in which individuals can raise concerns if they wish to do so.

[Lord Ribeiro (Con)]

As a surgeon, I had cause to cancel or delay operations on patients who were obese or were smokers, but those decisions were based on clinical grounds from the knowledge I had of the individual patient. Clinical commissioning groups can give guidance but they should not provide diktats. What assurance will the Minister give that clinical decisions will be left to those who have the best interests of the patient at heart and who know their patients?