NHS South West Essex leads the way to cross the most treatments off its list of services reports Private Eye.
A crisis board meeting at the end of last year added another 113 treatments to the 97 already excluded, including some hip and knee replacements in order to save an estimated additional £4.2m in 2011-12.
Despite stark warnings from an expert at the meeting that almost the entire £6m HIV/Aids budget is spent on drug treatment, and that every £10,500 annual cut would in effect withdraw treatment from a patient who would die without it, the board members nodded through a £1m cutback.
Cuts to public health, mental health and learning disability services were almost rubber stamped in the plans to axe a total of £33m in the remainder of 2010-11 and £47.4 in 2011-12.
The withdrawl of IVF treatment from all but recovering cancer patients flies in the face of statements from the health secretary that these services would be available to all those who need them through the NHS.
