Patients living in the same postcode get different care

Patients living in the same postcode get different care

Neighbours with identical postcodes can receive much different standards of NHS care, an investigation has shown.

If they choose to attend a different GP practice just 500 metres away, they may have to wait five weeks longer for routine procedures - or have it sooner.

While the success of fertility treatment can also vary dramatically depending on what jurisdiction their surgery falls under.

GP practices are ran by cash-strapped clinical commissioning groups, which control exactly what the NHS will pay for. 

But in some areas of England, many services are being slashed by these bodies, in particular IVF, because of Government funding cuts.

Such gulfs in standards, which are geographi cally aligned, have been described as 'serious' and 'unfair'. 

The success of fertility treatment can also vary dramatically depending on what jurisdiction their surgery falls under, an investigation shows

As a result, patients at Covent Garden Medical Centre, Camden, are offered just one cycle of IVF, a study by The Times found.

However, just 327 metres away, infertile women at the Museum Practice are entitled to three cycles of the fertility treatment. 

Both are ran by different CCGs - which are forced to cut an array of services to keep in check with their financial constraints. 

MailOnline previously broke the news of Richmond CCG proposing controversial plans to limit IVF to just HIV patients and cancer survivors left infertile. 

When should IVF be offered? 

In light of the NHS financial crisis, the majority of health trusts only pay for one cycle â€" despite official NICE guidelines saying women should be given three. 

WHEN IS IVF OFFERED?

IVF is only offered on the NHS if certain criteria are met. If you don't meet these criteria, you may need to pay for private treatment.

In 2013, the NICE published new fertility guidelines that made recommendations about who should have access to the treatment on the NHS in England and Wales.

However, individual NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups make the final decision about who can access it in their local area, and their criteria may be s tricter.

According to NICE, women aged under 42 should be offered three cycles of IVF treatment on the NHS if:

they've been trying to get pregnant through regular unprotected sex for two years, or they've not been able to get pregnant after 12 cycles of artificial insemination.

If you turn 40 during treatment, the current cycle will be completed, but further cycles should not be offered.

If tests show that IVF is the only treatment likely to help you get pregnant, you should be referred for IVF straight away.

Source: NHS Choices 

They also have strict eligibility criteria and couples will be refused if they are over 42, obese or smokers or have a child from a previous relationship. 

Most wom en typically see success rates of 20-35 per cent per cycle, according to statistics released by NICE.

The in-depth data investigation by Kat Lay and Tom Wills also showed similar problems in the north of the country. 

Infertile women at Bawtry Health Centre, near Doncaster, are entitled to the full recommended three cycles of IVF.

However, patients at Mayflower Medical Practice, which runs in the same building, are offered just two, they found. 

Surgery waiting times 

Waiting times for access to general surgery can also vary by up to five weeks at practices run in the same building. 

Bath Row Medical Practice in Birmingham patients face three months of waiting to undergo such treatment.

B ut Modality Attwood Green, in the same building, sees patients have to wait around seven weeks for surgery. 

Such waiting times are known to be at worrying levels, with the Mail previously reporting on them running at, or near, record rates.

The number waiting more than 18 weeks for operations has soared by 39 per cent in a year, statistics show. In total, 367,094 patients were waiting this long in February, compared with 263,589 a year earlier.

Action must be taken 

A spokesman for the Royal College of Surgeons said: 'It will no doubt surprise and anger people to discover that patients visiting GP practices in the same building, or indeed very near by, could have different access for surgery.

'Commissioning groups must investigate why their waiting times are so much longer than their neighbours.'

Chaand Nagpaul, chairman of the BMA's GP committee, told the newspaper that the 'arbitrary drawing of lines on a map' to create CCGs had led to 'a serious and unfair postcode lottery'.

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