HUNDREDS of patients in Scarborough will now be able to receive medical treatment following a U-turn by health chiefs.
Bosses at the trust imposed a series of restrictions on various medical procedures at the end of December in a bid to save money to reduce its multi-million pound budget deficit.
These restrictions will be lifted immediately, giving GPs open acces
s to X-ray services for people with lower back pain. They can also send patients for pain killing injections.
Other restrictions which have been lifted mean doctors can remove skin lesions and treat people with varicose veins. Carpel tunnel, trigger finger, vasectomy and female sterilization procedures will also be lifted from the list of operations which required prior approval. But the ban on IVF treatments remains in force.
Doctors have welcomed the decision by bosses at the North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust. Doctor's representative Dougie Lumb, a GP at Peasholm Surgery said: "We are very pleased to hear the news that we can now refer patients for diagnostic testing without having to seek prior approval.
"This means we can now send people for MRI scans, x-rays and other tests without asking if it is all right first."
Chief executive of the PCT Dr Janet Soo-Chung said: "We have been in discussions with primary and secondary care clinicians about how we would seek to lift the restrictions where appropriate."
"North Yorkshire and York PCT spends nearly £900 million of taxpayers' money a year on providing healthcare services. It is vital that we use this money effectively and whilst we appreciate the concern that this process has caused some members of the public, these short-term measures have enabled the PCT to focus attention on the referral system to ensure that our resources can be used to treat those patients most in need on an equal basis across North Yorkshire."
