A GROWING number of family doctors are being given the go-ahead to perform surgery normally carried out in hospitals - but health bosses are refusing to say who they are.

The move not to publicly name the GPs who offer the 'in house' treatment has been blasted by health watchdogs.

Under the radical move, surgical procedures that doctors are offering to their patients include vasectomies, hormone implants, orthopaedic treatment and cervical cautery.

But East Lancashire Health Authority is refusing to reveal who the doctors are because they fear patients may deregister with their current GP.

Frank Clifford, chairman of Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale Community Health Council (CHC) attacked the move, saying: "I do not understand why the names of GP practices who offer this type of treatment are being kept anonymous.

"We are talking about public money being spent for the public good. I am not satisfied with the reasons given for not naming them."

Health authority chief Viv Aspey, said that if patients wanted to find the whereabouts of the nearest GP practice which offered a specific type of treatment, they could 'apply' for the information in writing.

Mrs Aspey, director of community and primary care, said: "We are worried that if a patient hears of a GP down the road from where they live offering a specific type of treatment, they will want to register with that doctor and deregister with their own GP."

GPs wanting to carry out specific surgical procedures can apply to a special panel set up by the health authority.

Family doctors were keen to start the scheme and believed that patient choice would not be affected as the types of treatments were readily available in local hospitals.

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