WITH reference to the front page headline “Some ops for obese and smokers to be banned” (The Press, November 28), I believe this is an absolute disgrace.

It is part of the continuing attack on the NHS by politicians and by some of those in the medical profession who have a duty of care to all patients, not just those whose lifestyle the medical profession approves of.

No doubt the restrictions on operations to smokers and to those deemed to be obese will not apply in the private sector to patients who can afford to pay.

In some cases these operations in the private sector will be performed by the same surgeons who could have carried the out on the NHS.

The refusal by the Government to properly fund the NHS and social care is the root cause of the crisis in the NHS and the attacks will continue under this Government, with the NHS becoming a shadow of its former self to the detriment of the nation as a whole.

Peter Leadill, Keldale, Haxby, York