The UK National Screening Committee, which advises ministers, recommended screening for aortic aneurysms in January 2006. In May this year, it agreed detailed plans on how it would work. But the government still has not made a decision.

The Vascular Society of Great Britain and Ireland, which represents surgeons who work in the specialism, said the delays had already cost thousands of lives.

Jonothan Earnshaw, the society's honorary secretary and a leading surgeon, said: "The Government needs to get on with this. There are at least 3,000 men dying an early death every year who could be saved if screening was introduced."

The full article is here.

In the book, I calculated how many people die each year because Britain has the NHS instead of an average system of European healthcare. Perhaps another 3,000 deaths a year should be added to the calculation. But I am not sure because I have not had the opportunity to discover to what extent other countries - and not just European ones - screen for aortic aneurysms. Any comments with information on this would be most welcome.

Posted by James Bartholomew • Indexed in NHS

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