Doctors to urge NHS users to go private (From Bucks Free Press)

Doctors to urge NHS users to go private

11:09am Friday 1st February 2008 in News By Oliver Evans

PATIENTS are set to be urged by their NHS GP to use private medical insurance to help claw back a multi-million pound overspend.

Putting off sterlizations and vasectomies until more cash is available is among the other measures being considered to save as much as £8.3m.

The plans are being considered by Buckinghamshire Primary Care Trust (PCT), which controls the vast majority of the budget for services like hospitals in the county.

The authority has promised Government bosses it will not overspend by more than £10m until March - but is on course to go £13.2m into the red.

Wycombe MP Paul Goodman warned patients may be unhappy and feel they are not entitled to use the NHS if asked about their insurance.

But PCT finance director Linda Morris told the Bucks Free Press that going private may be quicker than using the NHS.

She said: "It is about making sure we are not spending NHS resources when people are insured. It is not about asking people to pay for it privately."

Mrs Morris said she expected "lots" of people in the county to be covered, particularly through employers' medical insurance.

The measures will be decided on next week.

Wycombe MP Paul Goodman said GPs must ask about insurance as a "last resort".

He said: "People who contribute to the NHS through taxation would be uneasy and unhappy if there was pressure on patients not to use a service they are entitled to."

He added: "Where is all this going? Patients will want to keep a close eye on this."