General Chat

cricky! why don't they spend it on vital staff and equiptmant? £37M could pay for around 2 million nurses or midwives for a year Or around a million doctors! need I say more?

The health issues surrounding body piercings are the same - should they be funded by the tax payer? If you had your ears pierced then developed an infection would you be happy to pay the full price for the prescription for antibiotics plus the consultation fee for the GP??( the fee for a private GP is around £55 for a 15 minute consultation)

They should not be removed on NHS Len, I have one and its small but if I didnt want it it would be my responsibility! Caz xxxxxxxxxx

NO!!! Angela

If one is adult enough to consent to a tattoo then one should be aware that it it PERMANENT and if surgery or grafting is required to remove it then it should be paid for privately.

can't understand why people get em really. Not my thing. Don't look nice in a wedding dress do they? catherine xx

I think it is a disgrace - the world has gone mad! When women fight to get anti cancer drugs to stave off breast cancer which health authorities have fought due to the cost, how can this ever be justified.......

Think the money could be better spent. If they want a tattoo removed I think they should pay themselves.

No,I dont think it is, people should be adult enough to know these things are forever:-)) If they decide to have them removed it should be treated like cosmetic surgery and pay for it.

No, not justified at all. People should think carefully in the first place whether to have a tatoo or not. They're not like face paints that wash off....

The Health Minister said in a Commons written answer that doctors had carried out the procedure, involving either skin grafts or lasers on 187,063 tattoos. Conservative estimates of the annual cost of removing small tattoos was £37 million but some consultants say £300 million. The figure has astonished MPs and consultants who fear NHS funds are being frittered on trivial surgery whilst patients are being denied life-saving drugs and staff are being laid off. The Liberal-Democratic spokesman said 'In a week when we've seen the NHS turn down Velcade (a cancer drug) it seems incredible that so much is being spent on tattoo removal' Tattoos were once seen as a rebellious statement and the preserve of the inadequate, criminals, bikers and sailors, but they have become increasingly a mainstream adornment. According to research, 29% of Britons aged 25-34 have tattoos. If people have themselves whimsically tattooed but later, for one reason or another, cannot bear to live with it, is it right that the taxpayers should have to pick up the tab? Untattooed tax-payer Len

The NHS spent tens of millions of pounds removing nearly 200.000 tattoos last year. Is this justified?