Gastric Band, Cosmetic Surgery – Anne Diamond wants more gastric bands on the NHS
The television presentor Anne Diamond has called for more gastric band operations to be carried out on the NHS.
She has launched a group known as experts in severe and complex obesity (ESCO) and one idea she’s put forward is for the NHS to offer more gastric bands to save people having to go private.
Obesity is costing the NHS £4.2 billion-a-year and this figure is predicted to more than double by 2050. By introducing gastric band surgery it will mean that this figure will drop dramatically in the future.
Also the NHS carries out between 2,500 and 4,000 gastric band surgeries every year, but ESCO estimates there are currently 230,000 people who need this surgery in the UK.
Do you think the NHS should carry out this surgery?
Tags: Cosmetic Surgery, Gastric Band
If it’s going to be cheaper in the long run then I think it’s a good idea but the problem is that a lot of people don’t think about the long term. They see that an idea is going to cost them more money now and so they don’t want to go ahead with it.
If the NHS is to cut it’s spending then they need to start looking into these idea more and implementing them as soon as possible.
I think it is very short sighted of the NHS to not see that gastric surgery is a positive step forward for the severly overweight. If these operations were done routinely, then individuals would not struggle to try to finance ( and often go abroad where its cheaper…why is that?) and be made to feel unworthy of NHS treatment.
As overweight peolple, most of us have tried and ofter succeeded in losing weight, only to then re-gain and more! Gastric surgery reduces the risks of this yo-yo cycle which has to be better medically?
In the long term, these operations should save the NHS funds, as there woud be less weight rlated illness ie diabetes/ joint problems / heart strain etcetc
Please please make these operations more readily avaiable on the NHS….I would have it done tomorrow, if only I could afford it; but meanwhile I will continue to cost the NHS for my treatments for various other illnesses!