If you are a smoker or are obese in Devon you will be denied surgery.
According to a statement issued by the Northern, Eastern & Western Devon Clinical Commissions group if you have a BMI over 35 or smoke you will be denied routine surgery unless you lose 5% of your weight or quit smoking for 8 weeks.
The NHS says it is facing a deficit of £14.5m and announced the new rules the day the government announced an extra £2bn of annual funding.
The company said it would take “urgent and necessary” measures to live within its financial resources and it appears that treating a segment of the population as second class citizens is the road they have chosen to take.
According to Dr. Tim Burke, Chair of Devon “All of these temporary measures relate to planned operations and treatments, not those which must be done as an emergency or to save lives.” He added, “We recognise that each patient is an individual and where their GP or consultant feels that there are exceptional circumstances we will convene a panel of clinicians to consider the case.“
