THERE will be two schools of thought about the case of Angela Healey, the 20-stone women denied a gastric band operation because she has no obesity-related illness.

Many will question why she feels the NHS should pay for the operation because in the majority of cases, obesity is a self-inflicted condition.

For many a gastric band is not the only option.

Exercise and diet will achieve a lot and people like Mrs Healey, without an underlying illness, could at some point in the past have adopted a regime to tackle their expanding waistline.

There is also the inconsistency that alcohol and cigarettes are similarly self-inflicted health hazards and the NHS works on those, although admittedly after the onset of a related illness.

But Mrs Healey’s case does, once again, raise the issue of how strictly our primary care trust controls its purse strings, particularly when other PCTs would fund the surgery.

Does it really make sense for our health service (and let’s remember it is a service) to tell someone with a BMI of 55 they have to develop a disease before it will step in? Doesn’t that contradict its raison d’etre?

From cancer drugs to IVF and obesity, NHS Oxfordshire seems to be the PCT that keeps saying ‘No’.