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News of the Day ... In Perspective11/9/2006Consultant visits rationed by stealth in UK About one-third of Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) in the British National Health Service have set up �referral management centres� that are supposed to speed referrals and assure that patients get the right treatment. But when patients in the Milton Keynes PCT started complaining about long delays, their GPs found a backlog of 2,000 letters locked in a cupboard by the centre�s secretaries until just short of the 13-week waiting time target set by the government. The delay limits the number of consultant appointments in any one year, thus saving money for the PCT. In a survey conducted by the medical magazine Pulse, 10 percent of PCTs admitted to a specific target for cutting referrals. The referral schemes, say GPs, are creating another tier of NHS bureaucracy that could harm patients� health (London Telegraph 10/15/06). Additional information:
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