NHS bosses have drawn up secret plans for sweeping cuts to services, with restrictions on the most basic treatments for the sick and injured.

Axe falls on NHS services

Saturday, July 24, 2010
By Laura Donnelly, Health Correspondent


The NHS faces extensive cuts Photo: ALAMY

Some of the most common operations — including hip replacements and cataract surgery — will be rationed as part of attempts to save billions of pounds, despite government promises that front-line services would be protected.

Patients’ groups have described the measures as “astonishingly brutalâ€