A LEADING consultant has heavily criticised measures which mean North Yorkshire pain patients will no longer get the same care.

Dr Peter Hall, a consultant in anaesthesia and pain at York Hospital, was speaking at a packed patients' meeting about money-saving measures imposed by North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust (PCT).

The measures mean new patients coming to the hospital will have to be vetted by a special prior approval panel before being granted certain injections for their back pain, whereas patients who are already in the system will not.

Dr Hall said: "New patients are not being offered the same management options.

"If you're in the pain clinic and you're having injections a new patient who comes in doesn't get the same option, they have to go to the exceptions panel who will then judge (their case).

"We (doctors at the hospital) consider this to be iniquitous. We feel that everybody should be offered the same option at having the injections whether or not they've had them before."

Monday's meeting at the Health Services Social Club, in White Cross Road, was arranged for patients who had been to the hospital's pain clinic so they could find out more about how care would be delivered in the future. More than 150 people attended.

One man said: "I have injections twice a year and it's chronic pain I have.

"With these injections, I get four months (relief) and the other two months it's back to severe pain. I'm getting relief for eight months out of twelve."

At Christmas time, the PCT announced it was suspending a wide range of medical procedures to save cash.

Doctors who felt their patients urgently needed any of the procedures could send them to the prior approval panel set up to vet cases - but only exceptional ones were granted treatment.

Our Let Your Doctor Decide campaign was launched in protest at this panel, after doctors said it would seriously impact on patient care.

From this week, some of the procedures which had been only available through the prior approval panel are now accessible again.

But new patients going to York Hospital's pain clinic will now have to be referred to the PCT's prior approval panel if doctors want them to have facet joint injections.

Epidural injections will be given for people with acute back pain, but not normally for those with long-term problems.

Dr Hall said the PCT wanted patients to have cognitive behavioural therapy to help them cope with their pain.

"We also believe that cognitive behavioural therapy is very important in the management of back pain - but that has to be at the right time and the right place for the individual," he said.

A spokesman for the PCT "The PCT has always operated a prior approval' panel for a number of procedures and we have said that for a small number of procedures, where the evidence base is less clear, we will continue to operate a prior approval' process. This will help aid our discussions with clinicians over the most appropriate way to treat certain conditions in the future."

The Press launched its petition as part of the Let Your Doctor Decide campaign, which has so far attracted 2,274 signatures from readers.

We will be handing in the petition at the PCT's board meeting in Sovereign House, Clifton, at 3pm tomorrow afternoon.

How the trust got into cash trouble

IN the financial year 2006/7, the PCT had a budget of £878.8million to spend on its patients. Here's how it was expected to spend the money:* Buying NHS services from other organisations like hospitals - £500.2million (56.9 per cent).

* Providing its own services, such as community nurses and mental health - £111.7million (12.7 per cent).

* Funding primary care services like GP practices - £135.9million (15.5 per cent).

* Prescribing drugs - £112.9million (12.8 per cent).

* Its own corporate services, including patient advice and liaison - £18million (two per cent).


Where it overspent:

* The main problem for the PCT was in buying services from other organisations, mainly hospitals, where it spent £22million more than its cash limit.

* Other factors - such as repaying its old debt and the Government's fine for being in the red - accounted for £17million.