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Obesity could cripple the NHS
An article by Sarah
Posted February 26, 2009 Fat loss operations rise 40%, obesity cases up 30% and 1.2million on dieting drugs. It is on a scale far bigger than we feared and threatens the health of the nation.
Official figures released yesterday revealed the number of people who had weight-loss surgery on the NHS shot up by 40 per cent last year. Bariatric surgery, as it is known, includes stomach stapling, gastric bypasses and sleeve gastrectomy – where the stomach is reduced to about 15 per cent of its original size.
“The NHS faces bankruptcy if this isn’t addressed.”
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence recommend these drastic measures are only carried out as a “last resort”. NHS Information Centre figures show that more than 2,700 such ops were carried out in 2007-08.
At the same time, the statistics revealed NHS prescriptions for drugs to treat obesity jumped 16 per cent to above 1.2 million. And hospital admissions for obesity rocketed by 30 per cent from the previous year to 5,018, including strokes and heart ailments.
Campaigners yesterday said the figures were “horrific” and warned the NHS is struggling to cope with the growing obesity epidemic. They say more needs to be done to prevent obesity in the first place. They are concerned patients may be relying on surgery as a quick fix for their weight problems. Only the most obese people qualify for surgery on the NHS, but doctors say they simply cannot keep up with the demand.
Prof Philip James, of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, said: “The number of people being treated by hospitals for obesity related problems are just a small fraction of those who are eligible. The NHS just does not have the capacity and staff trained to deal with this.”
Yesterday Lib Dem health spokesman Norman Lamb said: “The NHS faces bankruptcy if this isn’t addressed. This is yet more frightening evidence of the dramatic impact of the obesity crisis, both in terms of the impact on individuals and the cost to the NHS. Effective action to tackle obesity is long overdue.”
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