AS pressure on budgets becomes stronger and stronger every aspect of NHS spending is put under close scrutiny.

It should be too because as resources get scarcer and demand greater needs have to be prioritised because there simply isn’t enough cash to cover every call made on the NHS.

With this backdrop there has been debate about whether some procedures like operations to fit gastric bands should be carried out automatically on the NHS when they may not be a matter of life and death.

There are national guidelines recommending the body mass index levels at which people with no other health problems should be entitled to have the treatment.

For Steve Pulford clearly the situation is a very serious one. He desperately wants to lose weight to improve his health and get rid of the misery caused by cruel taunts.

But he says the operation he has spent 12 months waiting for was cancelled at just eight days’ notice because his haemophilia would make it too expensive.

Health officials are now to review their decision.

That is a welcome move because it is difficult to see how the cost grounds alone justify leaving Steve in such a depressing situation.