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In December the local health bosses - the Nene Clinical Commissioning Group - introduced a policy where some non-emergency procedures would have to be approved by a panel.

Figures from the CCG show that in the first month of the scheme being in place, 37 of the 168 applications to the panel were turned down, and 91Èȱ¬ Radio Northampton understands that while some were turned down because they didn't meet the panel's criteria, others were rejected because the patients' GPs didn't fill the forms in properly.

Stuart talks to Dr Kamal Sood from Nene CCG who is in charge of this Prior Approval programme, to Walter Munning who lives in New Duston and who in the past two and a half years has had operations that would now need approval from the panel, and to Dr Richard Vautrey, Deputy Chair of the British Medical Association's GP Committee.

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• villagers near Brackley demand action at a dangerous Junction
• a major fire at the old Wardington Court site in Northampton
• is Corby having a Scottish identity crisis?
• Northamptonshire County Council’s radical plan for its finances
• the search continues for Northampton’s Inspirational Woman
• previewing the weekend for the Cobblers and the Saints