Patients are being left in pain and misery amid widespread rationing of cataract operations and hip and knee surgery, research suggests.

The study shows that more than half of NHS authorities are restricting access to cataract surgery, with many refusing operations until patients are almost blind.

Charities said the findings were “shocking,” warning that vulnerable pensioners were being left at increasing risk of suffering harm such as falls.

The research, which covers all 195 clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in England, found that 53 per cent of them had classifed the eye operations as of “limited clinical value,” limiting NHS funding for them

And more than one third are only authorising surgery if patients were found to fare badly enough in “visual acuity tests”.