By Jenny Hope
Last updated at 11:53 AM on 4th June 2010
Millions of patients face losing NHS care as bosses prepare to axe treatments to make £20billion of savings by 2014, a top doctor has warned.
Among procedures being targeted by health trusts are hernias, joint replacements, ear and nose procedures, varicose veins and cataract surgery.
Dr Mark Porter, chairman of the British Medical Association's consultants committee, warned NHS bosses wanted 'wholesale reductions in budgets'.
Cutting back: Procedures including joint replacements and ear and nose procedures could be axed as NHS bosses cut costs
He said primary care trusts - which commission care - are already compiling lists of 'low value' operations that would no longer be provided.
These include hip replacements for obese patients and some operations for hernias and gallstones. Procedures for varicose veins, ear and nose problems including grommets in children are also not funded in some areas.
Dr Porter said it was wrong to impose blanket bans on such procedures when some patients might benefit.
Although the Government has pledged to defend spending, trusts are preparing for a period of 'unprecedented retrenchment' to make the £20billion savings within four years, he said.
'Already NHS commissioners are drawing up lists of health interventions that must be decommissioned. Cut. Stopped. Not done any more.
'These lists are clothed in the language of evidence but they represent target reductions based on cost and volume, sometimes ignoring the potential benefit to individual patients.
