Need More Proof?

Do you need more proof of how bad national health care will be? I didn't, but I will share this with all of you anyway.

A woman of 61 was refused a routine heart operation by a hard-up NHS trust for being too old.

Dorothy Simpson suffers from an irregular heartbeat and is at increased risk of a stroke. But health chiefs refused to allow the procedure which was recommended by her specialist.

The school secretary was stunned by the ruling.

"I can't believe that at 61 I'm too old for this operation," she said.

"A friend has had exactly the same thing done and it has changed his life.

"I feel as though I've been put out to grass and surely deserve better than this."

Mrs Simpson, of Leake, near Thirsk, North Yorkshire, was diagnosed three years ago with atrial fibrillation, a condition suffered by a million people in the UK.

It can cause palpitations, heart failure, strokes, shortness of breath, chest pains and blackouts.

Drugs have had limited success and her hospital consultant decided the most effective treatment would be a procedure known as a catheter ablation.

An electrode on the tip of a long wire is manoeuvred through a vein or artery and destroys abnormal heart tissue causing the rhythm problems.

National guidelines set no age limit for the procedure, which is usually carried out under local anaesthetic and has a better than 75 per cent chance of curing the condition.

Her consultant's application for Mrs Simpson to have the operation was rejected in December.

The North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust is said to have cited her age as one of the reasons for refusal.

Mrs Simpson said: "'If I lived in another part of the country there wouldn't be a problem.

"The condition is very distressing and is now starting to affect my work.

"I'm generally an upbeat person but this sort of condition affects you more and more as time goes on, and attacks happen more often. What concerns me most is the risk of a stroke."

A spokesman for the Atrial Fibrillation Association said: "In this day and age when people are living longer, it is wrong that they should have the door to their future shut in their face."

However late yesterday, following media interest in Mrs Simpson's plight, the PCT backed down and agreed to fund her treatment.

Medical director Dr David Geddes apologised to Mrs Simpson for the "distress" caused by the delay.

He said: "We have reviewed the case in the light of the additional clinical information and national guidance and, as Mrs Simpson fits the clinical criteria, we have agreed funding for her treatment."

"All decisions are taken on individual clinical needs; we do not discriminate on the grounds of age.

"Our procedures exist to ensure fair decision-making, based on clinical evidence, for all our patients."

The only limitation to her care, as she has paid into the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom her entire life, should be based on the likelihood of dying on the operating table verses the likelihood of her dying from the condition she suffers from. If she is more likely to die during the procedure than she is to die from her condition then the proceedure should not be undergone. This should be the only time she should be denied.

Is this what we want for this country? For our grandparents and other family members? I don't!