FAIL, BRITANNIA: NHS rations hospital referrals to cut waiting list.

The NHS is to ration hospital referrals as Labour scrambles to meet its pledge to cut waiting lists.
GPs have been ordered to consult on at least one in four referrals rather than sending them to hospital in order to reduce “unnecessary” appointments.

The quotas, the latest method the NHS is using to keep waiting lists down, will come into force on Wednesday.

But MPs and medics have raised concerns that setting an arbitrary target will delay patients from getting access to the healthcare they need.
Dr Luke Evans, shadow health minister and a former GP, told The Telegraph: “My biggest concern is about this single point of access, with a target to bounce back one in four referrals – that is bad for clinicians and it is really bad for patients.

“It is hard not to see this as a way of Wes Streeting simply controlling access to hospitals and massaging waiting lists.

“We don’t even know if the planned 1 in 4 patients bounced back to the GP are recorded. Is Labour planning on effectively rationing secondary care – it seems like it.”

Socialism always ends with rationing.