HEALTH chiefs in Bury were last night planning to scrap IVF treatment and weight-loss surgery as part of a series of drastic cuts.

Under the plans, fewer patients will be treated in hospitals from October as NHS Bury bosses battle to overcome debts of more than £16m.

The move — which was being discussed at a board meeting as the Bury Times went to press — would also mean the end of routine surgery for problems such as incontinence, bunions, cataract and varicose veins.

Paul Mainwaring, chairman of the Manchester Patients’ Council, said: “At last they are coming out and have started to tell people how bad the situation is, but what the people of Bury must be mindful of is that this is only the start.

“They have said they need to make these savings this year but what they are not talking about are the national cuts, which we think will be about the same.”

NHS Bury currently spends around £1.3m per month more than the £25.8m it receives.

It means bosses need to make annual recurrent savings of £16.2m starting from next month.

Paul Horrocks, chairman of NHS Bury, said the current financial situation is “unsustainable”.

He said: “It is vitally important that we take swift and decisive action to address our current financial problems.

“A key priority for me and the rest of the board is to ensure we remain focussed on our local health priorities. Part of the process to achieve this is to ensure that every penny available to us is invested wisely and that our books are balanced as we prepare to hand over responsibility for healthcare commissioning to local GPs.”

Under the plans, cosmetic surgery will be scrapped and patients needing hip and knee replacements will have to wait until they meet a strict set of criteria.

The plans also include cutting around 40 vacant job positions and reducing management costs which will release £70,00, and scrapping GPs’ incentives which will save £350,000.

At the same time, health bosses are proposing to spend £30,000 on a marketing campaign which aims to get more people using alternative NHS services such as walk-in centres, instead of the hospital’s accident and emergency department.

In addition, NHS Bury will have to find its share of £900m worth of savings which the government says must be made across the North West in the next three years. Mr Mainwaring said that equates to another £25m for Bury during that time.

He added: “NHS Bury should be encouraged for coming out with the facts; they are the first in Greater Manchester to put pen to paper and tell people how it is going to affect them. But this is only the start of a long road that we are all going to have to travel together.”

Access to psychological therapies will also be reduced and replaced with more cost-effective services such as group therapy.

Bosses say cases will be considered independently in exceptional circumstances, and procedures will be continually reviewed.

Other services proposed for urgent review are: mental health and learning disability, community services, personal medical service and alternative personal medical service, and local enhanced services.