HUGE WEIGHT ON HOSPITALS

Anti-obesity ops rise six-fold in a decade

THE number of obese people resorting to surgery to lose weight has increased six-fold in 10 years.

Surgeons in England dealt with nearly 6,500 cases on the NHS last year – soaring from just over 1,000 cases a decade previously.

Nearly 80 per cent of the patients were women, while one was not even 16.

Weight-loss operations, known as bariatric surgery, are only available on the NHS after all other treatments have failed.

Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, said: “It is lamentable that we have this many people who are so morbidly obese they need surgery.

“Sadly, many more people than this will be needing bariatric surgery but lack of money in the NHS means they haven’t been able to get it.”

The figures, released by NHS Digital, reveal the North East has the highest rate of surgery, followed by the West Midlands and London.

The number one hotspot is the Telford and Wrekin district in Shropshire, where 61 in 100,000 people had weight loss surgery last year – more than five times the national average of 12. But consultant John Loy, a bariatric surgeon at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, insisted the £7,000 operation is worth it.

He said: “It really is effective surgery. Conditions such as diabetes, sleep apnoea and hypertension are all resolved. Type 2 diabetes and its complications cost the NHS £14billion a year.”