John Reid

Friday's papers are dominated by the continuing dispute over a pensioner's cancelled NHS operation.

The health secretary, John Reid, cleared his diary to travel to the Warrington hospital where 69 year-old Margaret Dixon had her operation on a damaged shoulder postponed a number of times.

Reid, having visited patients and spoken to doctors, claimed the Conservatives were  denigrating the NHS and using the pensioner as a political pawn.

The Tories, who earlier staged a press conference in London with Dixon's family, claimed her treatment proved that Labour had not improved the NHS.

North Cheshire NHS Trust, which runs Warrington Hospital, denied that the surgical procedure had been cancelled seven times as was claimed.

Ian Dalton, the trust's chief executive, said the operation had been postponed three times.

"Life-saving operations must be, and are, our first priority," he said.

Reid claimed the unanimous view at the hospital was that the NHS was better under Labour than it had been under the Tories.

"There is a lot of anger here among the staff, the doctors, and the patients," he said.

Last night, it emerged that Michael Howard has written to Reid accusing him of telling lies during the row.

In the letter, released to the media, the Tory leader said: "You say I would 'introduce a system... that would charge us all for our operations' and '[Michael Howard] wants to bring in charges in to the NHS to force people to go private and pay for it...'

"As you know perfectly well, that is a lie. No one will be charged for NHS treatment in this way."

Dixon said she was "extremely disappointed" that Reid, who discovered that Conservative Party workers were in her home, had not "come round to see me".