It has emerged that a third of health trusts are denying surgery to patients because they were too fat. Figures obtained by the Royal College of Surgeons show 31% of England’s 209 Clinical Commissioning Groups, the local groups of GPs surgeries which replaced health trusts to organise treatment in the local area, make patients lose weight before referring them for certain types of procedures.
In an announcement last week, The Vale of York CCG decided to make obese patients wait at least a year to help cut the costs of operations. However, they said they would review their policy following the Royal College of Surgeons saying it was the most severe ‘the modern NHS has seen’.
Former health minister Norman Lamb said: “This is just the latest in a growing list of local decisions to ration care - any rationing not based on clinical need is outrageous.”
BMI is used to measure if the person is overweight by dividing their weight by their height squared. The obesity cut-off is a BMI of 30. The Royal College of Surgeons got responses from 200 CCGs. In addition to the mandatory policies, a further 20% asked patients to lose weight voluntarily.