Surgeon's spending cuts warning


15 May 2007 10:31

Hundreds of patients in Norfolk could miss out on vital spinal surgery because of a lack of NHS funds, a leading specialist warned today.

Mr Am Rai, a spinal surgeon at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, carries out operations on people who have debilitating slipped discs in their back or tumours, often preventing them from becoming paralysed.

But because Norfolk Primary Care Trust (PCT) is struggling to pay back a £50m debt, medical specialists have been told to cut back on operations.

Mr Rai said the list for people needing operations is growing but that he is not allowed to see any extra patients because it costs too much money.

He said: “There is a massive need out there for operations. I see about 40 to 50 patients each week with existing back problems, and I used to see about 15 new patients a week.

“Now I can only see about two new patients a week because the money is not there to pay for their operations.

“I am very concerned there are people who need surgery and they are not getting it. With the back, it is important to operate as soon as possible because complications can set in such as paralysis.”

Last week the Evening News told how a 50-year-old woman was just weeks away from being paralysed with a slipped disc in her back until an operation carried out by Mr Rai changed her life.

Diane Thirlwell had been in agony for four years, but it was not until she was sent for an MRI scan at the N&N that it was discovered a disc in her lower back had slipped so much she was told by doctors she could be paralysed within weeks if she did not have an operation.

The grandmother-of-four, from Cranworth Gardens, Norwich, said: “It will be such a shame if these services are cut.

“I might have been paralysed if I had not had the operation when I did and this could happen to hundreds of other people. It is really important that funding is made available for these operations before it is too late.”

A discectomy is a routine operation if a slipped disc is caught early, but if it has slipped too much, emergency surgery is required because otherwise a person could be paralysed.

Norfolk PCT's debt has seen services across the region reduced as health bosses work to meet government targets to pay back £50m this year.

Mr Rai said he was in discussions with the PCT to try and resolve the issue.

Do you have a health story? Call Sarah Hall on 01603 772426 or email sarah.hall2@archant.co.uk

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