Drastic surgery has been performed on 14 extremely obese patients in Dundee’s Ninewells Hospital this year in a bid to reduce their weight.
The patients were fitted with gastric bands, a procedure intended to control intake of food by reducing the size of the stomach.
The surgery is a last resort, only offered to patients where all else has failed and their health is at risk from medical conditions in addition to being overweight.
The UK’s first large-scale study on the impact of bariatric surgery has found that the number of patients who had diabetes prior to having bariatric surgery was reduced by half following an operation.
A number of celebrities in recent years have undergone bariatric surgery, several having a gastric band fitted.
Obesity is placing increasing demands on the health service and in recent years NHS Tayside has bought special operating tables and hospital beds that can accommodate patients weighing more than 25 stones.
The ambulance service installed special equipment to cope with extremely obese patients.
Last spring, NHS Tayside took a decision to establish a bariatric service based at Perth Royal Infirmary, but that has so far failed to get off the ground and the health authority has been unsuccessful in recruiting a specialist surgeon to set up a service there.
NHS Tayside’s chief executive Gerry Marr said the health authority remained committed to establishing a service at PRI for the whole of Tayside. However, at the moment operations are being carried out at Ninewells.
“We have done 14 cases since January,” said Mr Marr, admitting setting up the new service had not gone to plan.
“We have been re-organising some parts of the surgical service and wanted to concentrate bariatric surgery around the Perth site. We advertised a couple of months ago and didn’t recruit.”
He said the long-term plan was still to have a bariatric surgery service at PRI but for the moment it would be performed at Ninewells where there are two consultants who have undergone training in gastric banding.
Mr Marr pointed out that patients had to undergo a rigorous selection procedure before being accepted for surgery.
The region had a well-developed weight management scheme and obese people would be offered help through a programme offering help with diet and increasing physical activity before surgery was considered.
“It’s not just a case of somebody turning up and saying they’ve tried everything and can I get bariatric surgery,” said Mr Marr. “It’s a strenuous multi-disciplinary assessment they have to go through to assess suitability. They are subject to a whole series of tests.”
An estimated 40 patients a year in Tayside are expected to benefit from gastric banding.
Image used under Creative Commons licence courtesy of Flickr user mahalie.