Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will review the potential merits of rationing elective surgery for patients (a) with a BMI over 30 and (b) who smoke in response to waiting lists in place for elective surgery.

It is for individual clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to make commissioning decisions based on the needs of patients in their area. Whilst CCGs can take into account relevant risk factors such as weight and smoking status when making decisions, they cannot implement blanket bans on particular patients, such as smokers, getting operations as this would be inconsistent with the NHS Constitution’s sections on access to health services and National Health Service values.