James Bartholomew blogs on how the British have set up intermediary referral centres - another layer of bureaucracy - to try and shorten waiting lists. It sounds like just the kind of thing Pete Hodgson would be interested in.
When patients in Milton Keynes started complaining of long delays, their GPs investigated. Milton Keynes PCT had set up a referral management centre, which was meant to scrutinise all referrals in order to speed access and ensure patients got the right treatment. But Dr Peter Berkin and colleagues discovered a backlog of more than 2,000 letters locked in a cupboard by the centre's secretaries until just short of the 13-week waiting-time target.
"It got really scary," said Dr Berkin. "There were cases that could have been very serious and needed to see a consultant quickly. We were horrified. The decisions were taken by secretarial staff, not doctors."
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British have set up intermediary referral centres - another layer of bureaucracy - to try and shorten waiting lists
That doesn't even pass the common sense test.
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