PATIENTS will be struck off the NHS waiting list if they turn down two appointments as health chiefs vow to tackle time-wasters.
The threat comes despite hospitals themselves cancelling a record 22,000 ops per day this year – a 20 per cent jump compared to 2019.
Nearly 7million Brits are on the wait list, with 380,000 languishing for a year or more.
Efforts to clear the backlog could be further hit by a seven billion NHS cash shortfall by 2025 – around five per cent of its budget.
Bosses warned cancer and mental health services could face the axe in a bid to plug the black hole.
They blame rampant inflation and unfunded Covid costs for the funding crisis.
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And warn unless Liz Truss offers more money, hospitals and GPs will have to reduce critical services.
The two-strike system was signed off by ministers in a bid to cut delays.
A source said: “Hospitals have asked for this so they don’t have to keep repeating the booking process for a small number of patients who refuse treatment.”
If a patient refuses two appointment dates the hospital can put them on a separate “active monitoring” list to clear them out of the system.
Medics will be free to treat others and the patient called back in after three months.
Professor Neil Mortensen, president of the Royal College of Surgeons, told the Health Service Journal patients must not feel bullied off the list.
He said: “These new guidelines could give us a more streamlined picture of patients waiting for treatment – and patients a more realistic idea of how long their waits might be.
“But used poorly, they could see patients lost in the system or banished to waiting list purgatory.”
An NHS spokesperson said: “This will mean the small number of patients who choose to delay their treatment will be given greater support and encouragement to proceed with the care they need.
“This is clinically better for patients and reduces the administrative burden on staff.”
The big push to clear hospitals’ Covid backlog is adding to the NHS’s money woes.
Chief financial officer Julian Kelly said the health service was due to slash around £14 billion off its spending by 2025.
But he warned: “We could see further cost pressures of about six to seven billion pounds – in addition to the 14 billion pounds.
“At that point you’re clearly not talking about further efficiencies.
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“We will be having to consider and talking through with the government what the options would be.
“If you had to manage it within the budget we have, clearly you have to completely revisit investment in cancer, mental health, primary care, and increasing diagnostic capacity.”
HEALTH bosses were slammed for telling Brits to ask their GP before exercising.
NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency said in recent guidance: “Remember to speak to your GP before starting any exercise plans.”
Prof Martin Marshall, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: “GPs don’t have the capacity to sign off every patient’s individual exercise plan.”
Dr John Hughes told Pulse magazine: “It’s absolutely typical of the idiocy that comes out of NHS England from people who don’t understand what GPs actually do.”
