A young mum from Huddersfield was at the centre of a media frenzy last night following a £5,000 tummy tuck operation on the NHS.

Kelly McManus, a 27-year-old, mother-of-three from Dalton says her life has been transformed since she had the operation at Bradford Royal Infirmary last month.

But the operation has drawn stinging criticism from some quarters since it appeared on the front page of The Sun yesterday with critics saying the money could have been better spent on funding a couple of cataract operations for example.

And a spokesman for the TaxPayers’ Allowance fumed: “It’s ridiculous that the NHS pays for procedures that are not based on strict medical needs.

“Patients missing out on vital drugs and treatment will find this deeply unfair.”

Now the part-time self-employed beautician is to appear on ITV’s Daybreak news programme on Tuesday to give her side of the story.

Kelly has told the Examiner her problems began after her baby bulge refused to disappear following the birth of her first child.

By the time her third child came along her stomach was still podgy and she was feeling embarrassed by people’s comments asking if she was expecting yet another baby.

But a midwife told her that her stomach muscles had separated from her bulge and she began to seek medical treatment.

Kelly said: “I went to my doctor 18 months ago and he referred me to a physiotherapist but after a couple of months she said my stomach muscles couldn’t be repaired and I ought to think about surgery.

Last month surgeon Nicholas Rhodes carried out the three hour operation to remove the flap of skin on her abdomen.

She spent a further four days in hospital before returning home.

Kelly says she is delighted with the results though she is still waiting for the scars to completely heal.

“I am so pleased though I was quite scared about going under the surgeon’s knife,” she said.

Kelly McManus
Kelly McManus

“In fact I was so terrified I nearly didn’t go ahead with it but it was my only chance so I went for it.

“I’m normally a bubbly, fun-loving person with a large group of friends but all my confidence was draining away and I was feeling down.

“My sex life was affected. I looked like I was pregnant all the time and I wanted to be slim again. I didn’t like getting undressed in front of people.

“The hardest part after the op was having to walk round all hunched over. I couldn’t do any housework or play with my kids.”

As well as wanting the operation for cosmetic reasons Kelly says she also suffered from an umbilical hernia and so it was good to have that repaired too.

She added: “My family and friends are really pleased for me. Having this op has made me feel like a new woman, I have no regrets.

“I can understand why there might be some criticism but there were genuine health reasons and other professional people made the decision to go ahead with the op.”

A spokesman for NHS Greater Huddersfield CCG said: “We do not comment on individual cases as this would be a breach of patient confidentiality.

“Cosmetic surgery is not routinely funded by the NHS and any exceptional cases are only considered if there is a clinical need”.