YORK Central MP Hugh Bayley has launched a new bill in Parliament designed to end the postcode health lottery.
His ‘National Health Service (Right to Treatment) Bill’ proposes a national register of cases where treatment is refused and a right of appeal for patients, to try to ensure more consistency.
Under the terms of the bill, any medical treatment prescribed by a doctor would also have to be provided by the NHS unless the Health Secretary or the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence specifically said no.
These are radical, potentially costly solutions. But as a former health economist, Mr Bayley knows his stuff. And the postcode lottery as we have it at the moment is manifestly unfair. We hope this bill gets the serious parliamentary debate it deserves.
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