article_snippet: Freedom of Information responses from 145 of the 211 Clinical Commissioning Groups, (CCGS),
article_snippet: Dr Richard Vautrey, deputy chair of the British Medical Association’s GP committee, who is based in Leeds, said managers were using ‘spurious clinical reasons’ to discriminate some patients.
article_snippet: Dr Richard Vautrey, deputy chair of the British Medical Association’s GP committee, who is based in Leeds added:
article_snippet: CCGs should be open and honest.
article_snippet: If we’re going to ration a service we should ration it for all people, not just those in particular groups and pretend it’s for clinical reasons.
article_snippet: ‘Each case must be individually assessed and each decision must be ethical and in the best interests of the patient.
article_snippet: We recognise that patients do have a responsibility to look after patients own health and to be aware of the outcomes of unhealthy lifestyles.
article_snippet: It is easy to target vulnerable patients, and we must be very careful not to unfairly discriminate against people who aren’t always able to speak out.