Created on 30th November -0001
The NHS is putting thousands of lives at risk by refusing to fund weight loss surgery, it has been argued.
At present, it is estimated that morbid obesity costs the health service in excess of £1 billion a year, including dealing with related conditions such as depression and heart disease.
However, there are still a number of local Primary Care Trusts that are declining to pay for procedures such as gastric band surgery, Professor John Baxter, president of the British Obesity Surgery Society, has claimed, despite the fact that the cost can be more than recouped in six years.
Indeed, the NHS currently carries out fewer than 300 stomach shrinking operations each year, while there are estimated to be some 1.2 million Britons so overweight that they qualify for the work.
"The case for obesity surgery is overwhelming. It is clearly being rationed," he told Sky News.
"I am surprised there have not been more law suits by patients around the country, trying to say 'why are you not providing this' and it's just a matter of time I think."
