NHS WASTE

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An NHS trust, almost £5million in the red, gave a former director a £243,000 pay-off, after working for them for just three weeks. Dr Iheadi Onwukwe was put on "gardening leave" for three years after a dispute with a senior colleague. Then he was given his golden handshake, which could have paid for 300 cataract operations or given more than 40 patients life-saving heart bypass surgery. The same trust gave hospital chief executive Annette Sergeant a £231,000 pay-off. Ms Sergeant, who was earning £135,000, was slammed in a Healthcare Commission report. After going sick, she negotiated her deal. (Source: Daily Mirror, Jan/07)

Norfolk Primary Care Trust is to become the first to penalize smokers by taking them off waiting lists for surgery. The Trust, which is £50million in the red, said smokers have a higher risk of complications and take more time to recover from surgery, leading to longer stays in hospital. Health chiefs have taken the step because they say operating on smokers is more expensive. They are being ordered to try to quit their habit or risk losing the chance of an operation. The PCT recognised the health benefits of the move, but it made no secret that it is introducing the policy to save money. (Source: Sunday Mirror, Oct/06)

The NHS spent tens of millions of pounds removing nearly 200,000 tattoos in 2005, according to figures released by the Department of Health. Conservative estimates of the cost of removing a small tattoo under anaesthetic on the NHS put the bill for 2004-05 at £37m, but some consultants suggested a figure of £300m. Because tattoos penetrate under the skin, removing them is expensive. The tattooed area must be cut out and skin grafted over the gap. Removing tattoos with skin grafts in the private sector can cost £1,000-£2,500 and laser surgery costs from a minimum £200 to more than £2,500. A health trust in Manchester recently agreed to spend £2,500 removing the tattoos of transsexual Tanya Bainbridge. The former merchant seaman, previously called Brian, claimed the large tattoos on her forearms were “not ladylike” and made her depressed. (Source: Times Online, Oct/06)

The Government has spent £52.5 million in six years on management consultants for the health service. Frank Dobson, the former health secretary, said the sum was "the tip of the iceberg" because it represented only what the Department of Health had spent on outside consultants. Taking into account what individual hospital trusts and other health service bodies had spent in the same period, the figure was probably more than £200 million. Mr Dobson added that management consultants were "seldom value for money" and that patients would much prefer the money to be spent on reducing hospitals' deficits. New figures show that the department spent £12.8 million on management consultants in 2004/5, double the 2000/1 figure. (Source: Daily Telegraph, Mar/06)

Foreigners flocking to Britain to fiddle free healthcare are defrauding the NHS out of more than £2BILLION a year. And while hordes of "health tourists" cynically con their way to hugely expensive treatment, law-abiding Brits endure National Insurance hikes and ever-increasing hospital waiting lists. 100,000 foreigners turn up at emergency wards each year claiming to have "suddenly" fallen ill. But many have long-term diseases like kidney failure and others even need organ transplants. Some receive treatment costing more than £50,000. Thousands of heavily pregnant women arrive here specifically to exploit our system.

Some inner city maternity wards complain that HALF their patients are from abroad. Most get care worth over £1,500. And at least 6,000 HIV sufferers are coming into the UK annually, according to the Institute Of Hepatology, each taking treatment costing £15,000 a year. Some AIDS clinics reveal that up to 80% of patients have lived in the UK for less than a year. The potential bill is £900 million and rising. Last year immigration overtook gay sex as our biggest source of HIV infection. Hospitals should charge pat-ients not eligible for NHS care.

But the vast majority skip the country without paying a penny. And the crisis is made worse by the increase in asylum seekers and people on work visas ENTITLED to free treatment. An incredible 95% of hepatitis B cases reported here are actually contracted outside Britain, each costs us £10,000 a year. And 40% of London's acute psychiatric beds are taken up by foreigners. Australian backpackers doing Europe head to Britain first where they immediately use their visas to register with a GP and get free travel jabs and tablets, saving £300.

And, as figures collated by the Conservative Party put that £2billion price tag on the medical freeloading scandal, health chiefs warn that overstretched hospitals simply cannot cope. Dr Anne Edwards, a consultant at the Oxford Radcliffe Hospital, said, "We're in crisis. Not only do we not have enough money for our own population but we're having to treat lots of people from other countries. We're shelling out huge amounts of money. A lot of people are resentful." Richard Rawlins, consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Bedford Hospital, said, "One solution could be the introduction of entitlement cards. The alternative is total anarchy, where the British NHS becomes responsible for medical care of three-quarters of the world's population."

GPs are considered the "gatekeepers" of the NHS because any non-emergency patient wanting hospital treatment must be referred by them. GPs in one London health trust were recently advised NOT to seek proof of entitlement, for fear of discriminating against refugees and asylum seekers. GPs face legal action if they attempt to strike off suspected cheats. Manchester doctor Ian Burton tried to remove an Iranian family who registered a growing number of relatives and visitors at their address. He was threatened with the Commission for Racial Equality.

"Our own defence organisation said that if it went to court we'd have lots of bad publicity," he said. "From that point we've not policed anything." But Ronald Langstaff, consultant orthopaedic surgeon at a busy west London hospital, insisted, "This isn't a racial issue, it's a resources and entitlement issue." He knew one case where a foreign woman turned up at casualty demanding dialysis. He said, "When told she wasn't entitled she turned round and said if they didn't treat her she'd apply for asylum and get it free anyway! That is blatant abuse."

The NHS spent £40,000 on the 'Patient Experience Definition' to define what makes a good experience for a patient. The 64-word result says the sick want good treatment. Lib Dem health spokesman Paul Burstow said, "This definition is stating the obvious. Taxpayers will find it difficult to understand why £40,000 has been spent on common-sense definitions. Providing good quality care that treats people with dignity and respect is not rocket science. Ministers should not be wasting cash on dreaming up a statement of the blindingly obvious."

But a Department of Health spokeswoman said, "We make no apologies for seeking patients' views and listening to what they want from the NHS. We can't provide a truly patient-centred service unless we know what is important to them. This work will inform both the Department and the NHS about what patients want when developing and delivering services." If they don't know that for themselves, then they're in the wrong job.

The number of patients on the waiting list for an NHS operation in England rose by more than 14,000 at the end of 2004. At the end of December a total of 858,000 people were on the waiting list, up by 14,100 since the end of November, but the Department of Health said the waiting list had fallen by 115,000 since December 2003.

The NHS is in deep financial crisis even though its budget has trebled from £34billion under the Tories in 1997 to £92billion for 2007-8. The extra money invested since Tony Blair's Labour Government came to power has mostly been spent on staff, computers and building work. More than 193,000 extra staff have been recruited over the last seven years, including 23,000 doctors, 67,900 nurses, 26,500 therapists and 71,700 clinical support workers. A new £6.2billion computer system being rolled out over 10 years had been hailed as the most innovative healthcare IT programme in the world. And record funds have been ploughed into building projects for hundreds of hospitals and health centres. (Source: Daily Mirror, Mar/06)

The new chief executive of Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, is Jane Herbert. The same Jane Herbert who resigned as chief executive of South Manchester University Hospitals Trust in 2002 for fiddling waiting lists by removing patients even though they were still waiting for treatment. She joined Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Strategic Health Authority as chief executive but quit in 2003 before the publication of a report into the Manchester scandal. The trust’s chief Neil Goodwin, said at the time, it was unlikely she would “ever be employed by the NHS again”. Queen Elizabeth Hospital said, “Jane’s skills, expertise and her strong financial background will be an asset.” (Source: The Sun)