The vasectomy service’s waiting list becomes “unmanageable”

Oxfordshire’s clinical commissioning group (CGC) may start to limit the number of men who are able to have NHS vasectomies, or stop offering them at all in order to reduce spending.

In August 2018, there were more than 450 men on the waiting list and so referrals to the service were put on hold as Oxfordshire’s CGC announced they were suffering with serious financial challenges.

Since then, the waiting list has continued to grow and is now unmanageable.

In the past, Oxfordshire’s CGC has tried to offer other solutions, such as promoting other forms of contraception or getting a vasectomy through private healthcare.

One man on the ever growing waiting list said he thought it was unjust that only men with enough money are able to get a vasectomy. His argument was that an unwanted child will have a far greater financial burden on the NHS than a vasectomy would.

A Chartered Legal Executive Lawyer in the Medical Negligence team at Ashtons Legal, comments: “This is a prime example of the difficulties faced by the NHS in respect of having adequate resources enabling them to carry out their wide range of services. The high number of backlogs shows the ever increasing strain on the NHS and the troubles faced to constantly keep on top of their workloads. This demonstrates a greater problem in that there needs to be change implemented so that vasectomy’s and other desired procedures continue to be widely available.”