by Nick Lillitos

Patients have been misled about why hundreds of them have been dropped from operating waiting lists.
The claim comes from a senior surgeon at Maidstone Hospital, who slammed managers for being “economical with the truth” over a new surgical policy.
Peter Jones says it puts patients at risk, and that the policy has sparked a revolt among a large swathe of consultants.
Last week Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust told the KM that 250 patients had been removed from the surgery waiting list for gall bladder problems.
That action hinged around new operating criteria for recommending surgery, a move the trust insisted was not about saving money, but clinically driven.
All this is strongly disputed by Mr Jones, a consultant surgeon. He said the removals involve not just patients with gall bladder conditions, but hernia and haemorrhoid (piles) sufferers.
And he says the number dropped from his colleagues’ waiting lists is 360, not 250.
The new policy was drawn up by a collaborative group, called the “Health Economy,” conducted on behalf of NHS Kent and Medway PCT, who fund treatments.
The hospital trust said consultants were involved in drawing up the new guidelines alongside the PCT.
But Mr Jones said: “This policy is complete and utter nonsense, and it’s putting patients at risk.
“My colleagues were not directly consulted about individual patients being removed their waiting lists.
“Our consultant general body has expressed a unanimous view that they profoundly disapprove of the cuts.”
He added: “The cuts are purely a cost-cutting exercise despite the denials of those who drew it up.
“For them to say that gall bladder patients had been taken off the list because of the risks sometimes involved is a disgraceful slur on the surgeons.”

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