In November, Sheffield PCT decommissioned the innovative pharmacy H pylori service, which tested patients for the bacteria that causes dyspepsia and stomach ulcers. If tests proved positive, patients were given treatment for the infection. "The funding was not available" to replace test kits as they ran out, the PCT explained. So are innovative services such as this more likely to be cut? Widely commissioned services such as smoking cessation may prove safer, says Alastair Buxton, PSNC's head of NHS services. "The H pylori service is interesting, but the thing is that stopping smoking is probably a more valuable service for the NHS at the moment," he tells C+D. "The reality of the situation is that it comes down to a cost-benefit analysis by PCTs." Sheffield LPC agrees it came down to cost. "The service was popular but hospitals could do it much cheaper, so it was decommissioned from pharmacies and GPs," LPC secretary James Wood explains. But there are few "safe services" in the current financial climate, Alastair Buxton warns. "I'm not sure any services are safe at the moment," he says. "The challenge is that so many of the services are preventative, and commissioners may decommission them when they're struggling for funding. But that attitude is very short-sighted."#

Find out which PCTs are axing services with C+D's interactive map