MP denied abandoning two week guarantee for cancer patients on Question Time programme
On last week’s Question Time, Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude denied allegations that the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition was going to abandon the two week referral guarantee for patients suspected of having cancer. In a heated debate with Andy Burnham, who is contesting for the Labour leadership bid, Chairman David Dimbleby was forced to intervene as the two MPs argued over the new plans to modernise the way in which the NHS, heathcare systems, and medical supplies are managed.
David Cameron has said that the two week guarantee was often too long for many patients to wait; Francis Maude also regarded the policy as one which was clinically valid and justified. He insisted that the coalition had no intentions to get rid of the guarantee, despite claims from various coalition MPs and even Mr Cameron himself that the rule might eventually be scrapped in future years. The proposals would have involved the scrapping of 10 UK health authorities and a total of 152 primary care trusts in the near future. However, sir George Young, Commons leader announced that the waiting time targets that were not clinically justified had been removed from NHS guidelines in June. Cameron indicated that the new plans would see a reduction in management costs by almost 50%, during a time when spending cuts and pay freezes will have tough implications for all workers in the public sector.
Meanwhile, Labour have praised the guarantee and have proclaimed that it has helped to save many lives since its introduction ten years, as part of a special cancer plan for the NHS. The acting leader for Labour, Harriet Harman hit back at the coalition and suggested that they were planning to abolish the guarantee and many other Labour MPs also expressed criticism of the plans. King’s Fund data from last year showed that only 7 percent of UK patients had to wait longer than two weeks in order to see a specialist, after they had been referred by their GP.
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