Tonsil removal is one of 17 routine procedures being dropped or highly restricted by the United Kingdom's National Health Service, which could save the agency about $262 million, according to The Mirror.
The proposal, which was announced Saturday, could prevent more than 100,000 unnecessary procedures in the United Kingdom annually, the Mirror said. NHS England said millions could be saved by tightening the criteria for treatments, where the risks outweigh the benefits, the publication noted.
Along with tonsil removals, the NHS plans to exclude breast reductions, snoring operations, varicose vein surgery, hemorrhoid operations, along with procedures to remove benign skin lesions, the Mirror said.
"If we want the very best clinical care for our patients, we need to stop putting them through treatments where risks and harms outweigh the benefits," national medical director Stephen Powis said, according to the Mirror.
"By reducing unnecessary or risky procedures for some patients we can get better outcomes while reducing waste and targeting resource to where it is most needed," Powis added.
NHS England's board of directors will meet next week to discuss the plans, the Mirror said.
The Guardian wrote that the 17 procedures are performed about 350,000 times a year and cost more than $524 million.
"We are also going to ask 'Are there other procedures and treatments we should add to the list?'" Powis said, according to The Guardian. "Additions could include general anesthetics for hip and shoulder dislocations and brain scans for patients with migraines.
"We have to spend taxpayers' money wisely. Therefore, if we are spending money on procedures that are not effective, that is money we could spend on new treatments that are clinically effective and would provide benefits to patients. It's absolutely correct that, in getting more efficient, one component of that is to make sure we are not undertaking unnecessary procedures," he added.
NHS said in replacement of those procedures, when possible, other less invasive treatments would be used instead to save money, the Mirror wrote.
The Guardian wrote that the potential cuts come as the United Kingdom government prepares to raise taxes and ditch an increase to the personal income tax allowance to pay for NHS funding plans.
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