𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Falling backwards as I slipped on some rocks halfway up a mountain, a massive bang rang out as I hit my head on the stony ground. I was holidaying in Romania and dealt with the pain by downing copious amounts of cherry brandy. Back in England I felt increasingly dizzy. Visiting A&E, I received a brain scan revealing I was concussed, but without a bleed on the brain. My neurologist was more worried about my neck and referred me to a peer specialising in “movement disorders”. In the 12 years since then, that same specialist has injected botox into several of the muscles in my neck every three months to try and suppress “dystonic tics”.

I feel lucky to have had them, especially as the outcome might not be the same were I seeking medical treatment today. When Labour pledged to cut hospital waiting lists in their 2024 manifesto, I imagine most people thought this would involve introducing efficiencies to increase the time medical specialists had with patients. Perhaps it would mean establishing better pay rates for doctors so they don’t disappear to Australia or the United States for more money and a better work-life balance.

Instead, as we learned this week, they’ve apparently opted to ration hospital appointments. GPs have reportedly been told they should aim to consult on at least one in four referrals instead of sending people to hospital as Labour scrambles to bring down waiting lists with new enforced quotas.

Shadow Health Minister Dr Luke Evans said the new target would be bad for clinicians and patients. While Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer, chair of the British Medical Association’s GP committee, called it a “huge concern”.

That’s putting it mildly. It’s a devastating blow that’s going to put the health of millions of Britons at risk and I hate to think what Keir Starmer and his cronies will come up with next.

No one voted to have a jury trial taken away, but Labour is working hard to push that decision through. And no one voted for this healthcare change but it’s happening.

There’s no doubt that Wes Streeting’s plan to reduce waiting lists will look great on the Excel spreadsheets on the Department of Health and Social Care’s computers. But I’m extremely concerned about the catastrophic impact it will have on the lives of everyday hardworking taxpayers who are already juggling everything that life throws at them.

Take myself as an example: I was diagnosed with incurable bowel cancer just under three years ago after one of my GPs referred me to specialists. I have no doubt that cancer is one of the things that GPs will still be encouraged to actively refer patients to specialists about, not least because it’s the one condition that all political parties like to talk about on their election leaflets.

But I wouldn’t be so lucky with all my other health conditions. The neurologist who administers my botox injections is a leading expert in the treatment. He’s been doing it for almost 30 years. So how will it work if a GP just asked him for advice instead of being able to actually refer someone? The answer is: it won’t.

Having suffered several deep vein clots in my arms due to cancer treatment, I’m also under the care of a haematologist. Her job is to help me prevent the clots moving up to my brain where they could cause a stroke and/or death.

Spoiler alert for Wes Streeting: GPs just don’t have this specialist knowledge. They are now encouraged to seek “advice and guidance” from a consultant instead of sending a patient to hospital and, reportedly, will be paid £20 for each such case, but this smacks of the government’s short-sightedness.

What happens when a patient who hasn’t seen a specialist has a stroke? The sad answer is it’s devastating for them and their families. And, for the government bean counters watching the pennies, it’s far more expensive to treat them than the preventative care would have been.

I could go on as I’m also under the care of a cardiologist, a physiotherapist, and a psychologist. Instead all I can do is hope that GPs disregard Labour’s advice and keep referring their patients to specialists when it’s needed. If you’re a patient and don’t get the referral you think you need, just keep asking. After all, if the target is for one in four cases to not be referred then you’ve still got a three in four chance of a referral.