HEALTH bosses have come under fire for announcing drastic new cost-cutting measures just before Christmas.

Coun Ian Cuthbertson, who chairs the York council's Health Scrutiny Committee, has voiced fears over the radical new measures released to GPs by North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust (PCT) last week.

As reported in The Press on Friday, the PCT told doctors it was having to introduce urgent money-saving measures to balance its books.

They included suspending treatment for what were deemed "non life-threatening" conditions, such as IVF - unless the woman was pushing 40 - MRI scans of the back and surgical intervention for chronic pain.

Some of the measures have already been branded "unethical" and "disgraceful" by GPs.

Chiefs from the PCT will be meeting members of the Health Scrutiny Committee tomorrow to update them on their plans.

Committee chairman Coun Cuthbertson said there was "great concern" over the way the PCT had announced its measures.

He said that although the plans were being put forward for approval by the PCT's board on January 9, it was understood they were effective from New Year's Day.

He said: "There is great concern over the way in which the plan has been announced and the timing of this announcement.

"It gives other health service partners little or no time in which to respond before the plan is formally adopted by the PCT's board.

"This is the third year in a row that a local health service trust has made an announcement of cuts or significant changes just before the Christmas holiday period.

"The committee discussed the previous financial recovery plan (by Selby and York PCT) in detail in late July and August last year.

"But this new plan appears to go much further in restricting the services and procedures which will be available to patients and it is clear that there will be knock-on effects in other areas.

"The Health Scrutiny Committee will be asked to consider this matter as urgent business."

The PCT has said its current financial position meant it needed to take "urgent action" to make sure it balanced its books as soon as possible.

A spokesman said: "We are most certainly aware of the impact that these changes may have on our partners, most notably social service and hospital service providers, and we also recognise the challenging timescale that we have put in place. However, the financial position of the PCT is such that we must take action now to avoid even more difficult decisions in the future. We will continue to meet with our partners to ensure that they are engaged and supported throughout this process."