LETTER: ‘Goodies’ from NHS funding

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I find it puzzling, to say the least, that several Clinical Commisioning Groups in England are reported to be spending large sums of money providing patients with what appear to be items and activities of a non-medical nature.

According to a report in one national newspaper these include horse riding lessons, pedalo rides, art classes, a summer house etc.

A family holiday was paid for to allow a patient to ‘re-establish relations’ with their children.

One received a break with a dog to give them ‘time to reflect and recuperate’.

The deputy chairman of the BMA’s GPs committee Dr Richard Vautrey is reported to have

said: “We have reservations about this scheme and the inappropriate use of scarce NHS

money on non-evidence based therapies.”

I was even more shocked when I read on to discover that ‘In Horsham, Crawley and coastal West Sussex, £2.6million was spent on care packages for 44 people, the highest per patient of any of the CCGs’.

I realise that since last October I have a personal budget within the NHS, but I am not

seeking to acquire any of the ‘goodies’ referred to in the article. Obviously some local NHS patients have benefited and perhaps had their quality of life improved as a result.

Readers of your paper might like to hear from the local CCG spokesperson to confirm the details in the article and to comment on this use of scarce NHS funding.

TONY ELDER

Deer Way, Horsham

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