HEALTH bosses have formally accepted our petition to scrap a judge and jury panel vetting patients for treatment.

We launched our Let Your Doctor Decide campaign after North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust (PCT) announced a range of money-saving measures at the end of last year.

They included suspending a range of hospital treatments, such as injections for back pain. GPs were asked to send any patient they felt urgently needed one of these treatments to a special prior approval panel of PCT doctors - who only granted procedures to cases they deemed exceptional.

Doctors and patients were furious that the panel was barring patients from treatment - and The Press launched our campaign in protest.

Since then, some procedures that had been unavailable are accessible again without the need for prior approval.

But others, such as facet joint injections for new back pain patients, will still require approval from the PCT first.

A total of 2,346 people signed our petition, which we handed in to board members from the PCT at their public meeting in York yesterday.

PCT chairman Johnny Wardle thanked The Press for our campaign, saying: "We appreciate your feedback."

As reported in The Press yesterday, the PCT has now launched a major finance plan detailing how it will save nearly £33million this year - and potentially another £15million.

The organisation faces a shortfall of £86million and is using extra cash of nearly £100million from the Government to plug part of the black hole.

Jane Marshall, director of commissioning and service development, revealed further details of how patients across the county could expect to get their health care in the future.

She said it was planned to introduce a musculoskeletal service for patients suffering from joint problems including back pain. This scheme currently runs in two areas of the PCT, but now bosses want it to operate across the whole county.

It will mean patients will be referred to specialists like physiotherapists and other orthopaedic experts to assess and treat their problems - with the possibility of being referred to hospital if needed.

Managers also want to see a service across North Yorkshire which will help stop elderly patients from falling.

In Hambleton and Richmondshire, where the scheme currently operates, health professionals visit vulnerable people in their homes to give advice about changing things like carpets and footwear.

Health chiefs say it prevented 35 people from having to go to hospital within six months - one of the main ways they want to save cash.

PCT board member Dr Vicky Pleydell said: "It's very powerful, very simple, and it actually improves people's lives."