Half of hospitals in England delay surgery to save money

Half of hospitals delay surgery to save cash

Extracts:

"Almost half of NHS hospitals across England are now deliberately delaying operations to save money.

"Minimum waiting times" have been imposed by at least 43 per cent of Acute NHS Trusts, a survey for Channel 4's Dispatches programme found. Treatments are often postponed for more than 20 weeks, despite staff and equipment being available.

Patricia Hewitt, the beleaguered Health Secretary, has vowed to resign if the NHS fails to balance its books by the end of the financial year.

Her Tory shadow, Andrew Lansley, said: "Staff are being paid to do nothing in the current quarter because Patricia Hewitt needs to get the NHS back into the black by April to save her job. Labour's NHS mismanagement has reached crisis proportions.""

"In an interview for Dispatches, Mrs Hewitt described minimum waiting times as "unfortunate and frustrating but necessary"."