Bariatric surgery is not to blame for the obesity crisis – and surgery is not a ‘quick-fix’ – but it can be part of the solution. And surgical success comes despite the fact that our patients are becoming heavier and presenting with more health complications at the point of surgery.
Surgeons in the UK currently operate on only a tiny proportion of the people who would be eligible for surgery under NICE guidelines. As Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, Medical Director of the NHS, said at the launch of the National Bariatric Surgery Registry (NBSR): “As in all branches of medicine, prevention is better than cure but, when required, bariatric surgery is effective and safe.”
In many cases bariatric surgery is the right choice for many people who have severe and complex obesity. It improves their quality of life and often enables them to achieve things that had become impossible. For some people, bariatric surgery is one episode in the lifelong chronic disease of obesity. Bariatric surgeons in the NHS are pioneers and champions of the multidisciplinary team (MDT) approach to patient care, ensuring that we get the best possible results in both short and long term.
Members of the British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society (BOMSS) and their colleagues do important work. Audits and official figures only confirm what we see day to day in our surgeries – bariatric surgery plays a vital role in helping people who suffer ill-health because of their weight and saves the NHS money at the same time.”
The full report can be seen here: http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB20562/obes-phys-acti-diet-eng-2016-app.pdf