Marks & Spencer is still promoting sweets, cakes and biscuits at checkouts of its stores in NHS hospitals, despite a ban in the rest of the country.

The retailer announced earlier this year that it was to stop selling sugary snacks in "guilt lanes" near tills, but confirmed last week that its 22 stores at NHS hospital trusts were not abiding by the ban and could not be forced to do so because they operated under a franchise.

Last week checkout displays at M&S in Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge were offering a "grab and go" deal of dolly mixtures, "wobbly worms" and "foam bananas" for £1.50.

Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, said: "It's clearly time to give the boot to junk food and...