NHS patients should contribute towards the cost of some routine operations, a body of leading public health experts have said.
The Association of Directors of Public Health believes people should help pay for certain types of non-emergency surgery on the NHS including tonsil removal and hysterectomies.
The association argues that the idea is not so radical as some NHS patients already pay for dental work and prescriptions.
It says rising demands on the NHS as more treatments become available will lead to more rationing and that charges for minor surgery would help keep that demand in check.
Dr Tim Crayford, president of the association, which represents NHS trusts' public health directors across the UK, said NHS operations which could be charged for included tonsil removal, hysterectomy for heavy menstrual bleeding and cosmetic surgery.
He told PA: "It is for a whole range of things which offer hardly any benefit. It is not a large amount of what the NHS does. It is just the margins."
But ministers may oppose the call because it would undermine the idea that the NHS is free at the point of use.
