A MINIMUM WAIT?:

Hospital fined for treating too many patients (Celia Hall, 02/08/2006, Daily Telegraph)

An NHS hospital has been penalised for treating its patients too quickly - losing nearly £2.5 million, the cost of the care it provided outside an agreed contract.

Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust, which finished the year £16.7 million in the red, had been doing so well with waiting list targets that in one department patients were waiting only a week to see a consultant.

But that was too fast and too costly for East Suffolk Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), which provide the money for patient care. They had introduced a minimum wait to manage demand, requiring patients to wait at least 122 days before seeing a consultant. [...]

The report said: "The trust had spare capacity and, to ensure its resources were utilised, treated a number of patients in advance of the 122-day rule." That cost the hospital £240,000 in 2004-05 and rose ten-fold to £2.4 million in 2005-06.

Hospital staff, pleased with their ability to treat patients quickly, are exasperated. The hospital's joint unions said: "The PCTs wanted the work done; we did it and now they should pay for it."

Democrats promise to model our health care on theirs?

Posted by Orrin Judd at August 5, 2006 8:47 AM