There's an interesting story in the Telegraph concerning the drop in the number of referrals made by GP's - down 4.7% on this period in 2010.
Here's the Telegraph story instead of a rehash - Click Here
It raises a few interesting questions.
We have a population which is increasing drastically, so how at the same time can hospital referrals fall?
The only possible answers are that the health of the nation is improving, which seems unlikely since we're day in and day out hearing of increasing health threats and incidents of illness, or that there is a rationing by stealth taking place.
Given ConDems imposed cutbacks, is it likely that this is in fact a money saving measure, and, in some instances, are patients who may well have been referred before now being denied that?
There are numerous reports of health authorities tightening up referral criteria, so this seems likely.
Cases which once would have been referred we're now told by the Department of Health are being treated in more "appropriate circumstances".
That has the aroma of bureaucratic doublespeak for cheaper circumstances to be honest.
With the British Medical Association (BMA), and the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) raising concerns, it's certainly likely that something is going on, and it is not something in the interests of the patient.
The most obvious question of all has to be why we are cutting back the NHS budget when the population of this country is increasing and thus demand will increase.
The two are incompatible with one another, it is a simple fact that an increasing population produces increasing demand on the NHS.
We would - and should - save money by dealing with an increasing population which has its roots entirely in immigration, but we do nothing about that.
Nor do we do anything about largely imported demands on the NHS such as Tuberculosis, HIV, and Hepatitis.
Instead ConDem attempt to pinch money wherever they can, and insist that less resources can deliver the same quality of care to more people. They can't and they won't.
As well as this, we insist there is less money for the NHS, and yet there is more money for foreign aid.
The whole thing is fundamentally flawed. Less spending on health, due to an alleged lack of money which we all know is really more down to a misapplication of money, and an increasing population, can only result in rationing of one sort or another.
Get used to it, we'll play benefactor to the world, and the cutbacks will be made at home. More people, less resources, we're heading downhill fast.
There's an interesting story in the Telegraph concerning the drop in the number of referrals made by GP's - down 4.7% on this period in 2010.
