A CAMPAIGNER to defend NHS services in York has accused health bosses of having ulterior motives for requiring people to lose weight before operations.

Anne Leonard, of Defend Our NHS York, questioned new rules which mean obese people in York are required to lose weight or wait a year before being granted elective operations.

She told the meeting of the health and wellbeing board the new rules were a way of reducing pressure on the system. She said: “Blaming people for those conditions masks the problem that the services are being run down and are not capable”.