Croydon strikes again

Low clinical priority procedures (aka those that appear on the Croydon list) returned to the top of the pile briefly at the end of last year as the Right Care elective surgery project released its phase 1 report. The programme was prompted by an earlier Audit Commission study on reducing spending on low clinical priority procedures. The government took to heart the recommendation that national guidance be developed. However, critics (amongst which was the Federation of Surgical Specialty Associations - FSSA) have argued that the evidence base for this kind of decision-making is poor and that it doesn't sit at all well with the patient choice agenda. Hence the Right Care project, which involved the FSSA. Initial themes from the project include guarded support for national guidance, the suggestion that, since the current terms of art are unhelpful, "there should be a change in terminology to reflect a more holistic approach" and that blanket bans and resultant postcode lotteries should be avoided. A briefing from solicitors Mills and Reeve looks at the legal issues behind decisions about restricting access to low priority procedures.