According to a senior medical advisor, a crackdown on private medical screening has been planned by government. This is due to the pressure it puts on the NHS and is also not regulated properly.
Sir Muir Grey, the program director of National Screening Committee (NSC), told the medical magazine Pulse that there needs to be a regulation of tests conducted by the private health sector. The medical screening offered by the private firms can range from a cheap cholesterol test to a whole body scan costing thousands of pounds. This might cause anxiety among the patients.Sir Grey also added that they are contemplating measures to control private testing as it is a low value activity which creates work for health service sector but may not be beneficial to the individual. He feels that the independent sector does not have a proper system of regulation. The regulative measures which are planned to be introduced would be evidence based which could be from the healthcare commission, advertising standards authority or from office of fair trading.
Professor Mayur Lakhani, chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, told the magazine that medical screening has become widely accepted but is harmful if national standards are not adhered to. Richard Hoey, deputy editor of Pulse stated that it is difficult to stop patients from undergoing private screening but it has to be regulated.
Source-Medindia
JYT
