THEY may not be the most life-threatening conditions, but bunions and varicose veins can surely hurt.

That is what makes so painful the news that cash-strapped health chiefs can no longer afford to treat them.

After 60 years, the NHS should be getting better, not worse. And so, in many ways, it is. Treatment for cancer, heart disease and many other serious conditions have been revolutionised.

Yet at the same time, the health service's ability to do the simple things seems under threat. Want an NHS dentist? No chance. Need your painful or unsightly varicose veins treated? Sorry.

Regional health bosses have decided to cut back on low-priority procedures because of money. The Selby and York Primary Care Trust's £23 million debt is well documented. Worrying new figures reveal that across North Yorkshire, health trusts will have to save £70 to £80 million between them merely to balance their books this year.

Part of the problem is that North Yorkshire GPs have been referring more people for low-priority treatments than the NHS can afford.

Now such referrals are to be cut back. Bunions or varicose veins that cause real pain will still be treated - but if they are merely unsightly, they will not be.

For all the great advances made in health care, that is a step backwards. And it is one that is being echoed across the country.

In an age of spiralling costs and ever-increasing demand for health care, some health rationing has long been inevitable. Either that, or we must all be prepared to pay more for our health service.

Politicians at national level are going to have to decide which, and soon, so that local health bosses can get on with their job without these constant financial headaches.

Updated: 10:55 Wednesday, May 17, 2006