Smokers and obese face indefinite surgery ban

THE NHS will ban patients from surgery indefinitely unless they lose weight or quit smoking, under controversial plans being drawn up by officials.

The restrictions in in Hertfordshire last night came under attack from the Royal College of Surgeons. Ian Eardley, the senior vice-president, called for an “urgent rethink” of policies that he said were “discriminatory” and would leave patients in pain and misery. “Singling out patients in this way goes against the principles of the NHS,” he said.

In recent years, patients in some areas have been given time to lose weight or quit smoking, but ultimately allowed surgery regardless. But the rules drawn up by clinical commissioning groups in Hertfordshire say that obese patients “will not get nonurgent surgery until they reduce their weight” at all, unless the circumstances are exceptional.

The criteria, revealed in the Health Service Journal, also means smokers will only be referred for operations if they have quit for at least eight weeks.

East and North Hertfordshire CCG and Herts Valleys CCG said the plans were aimed at encouraging people “to take more responsibility” whilst “freeing up limited NHS resources for priority treatment”.

Joyce Robins, from Patient Concern, said: “This is absolutely disgraceful – we all pay our taxes; we did not agree to a two-tier system.”