Selecting your surgeon an advantage Canada has over the UK

Canadian Medical Association Journal 1996; 155: 11-20

[Letters]

Iwas interested in the well-documented article, "NHS waiting lists have been a boon for private medicine in the UK" (CMAJ 1996; 154: 378-381 [full text / résumé]), by Caroline Richmond. I agree that one reason why people become private patients in the United Kingdom is to avoid the long waiting lists for surgery through the National Health Service (NHS), but I would add an often-overlooked factor -- the assurance of having the operation performed by the surgeon of one's choice. The standard NHS consent form states that no assurance has been given the patient that the operation will be performed by any particular surgeon. One gets whoever happens to be doing operations that day, and he or she may be a very junior trainee.

One of the great advantages of the Canadian system is that most surgery is performed by well-trained, certified specialists and that patients can have the surgeon of their choice. It worries me that we may be moving away from these standards in Canada. In British Columbia we hear musings from health care planners that in future patients may be moved to hospitals with shorter waiting lists. We already send patients out of the province for open-heart surgery when waiting lists here get too long.

Anthony J. Dowell, MB, BS, MSc, FACS, FRCSC
Nanaimo, BC

| CMAJ July 1, 1996 (vol 155, no 1) |