Obese patients to be flown to London for gastric surgery

London: Obese patients in Belfast will be flown hundreds of kilometres for fat-loss operations at Imperial College trust.

The trust confirmed that it had won its bid to provide the stomach-shrinking surgery.

It is part of a radical plan to beat the obesity epidemic and coincides with the government's launch yesterday of the £8.7million (Dh46.5 million) Change4Life campaign designed to tackle unhealthy lifestyles.

Chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson has warned that obesity is a "national crisis" and said that the aim is to cut obesity levels back to those seen in 2000.

He added: "People need to understand that fat is not their friend. But it's one of the few medical problems that can be turned around very rapidly. It needs to be a big campaign because this is a national crisis."

Tackling 'crisis'

Under the new arrangements, a team from Imperial's weight centre at Charing Cross Hospital will fly to Belfast and assess patients who will then travel approximately 521 kilometres to London for surgery. These include dieticians, surgeons, specialist nurses as well as psychiatrists who will check that morbidly obese patients are mentally prepared to cope with a dramatic loss in body size.

Consultant bariatric surgeon Ahmad Ahmad said: "Bariatric surgery [surgery to treat obesity] such as a gastric bypass can lead to dramatic improvements in obesity-related illnesses such as diabetes and high blood pressure while also resulting in up to 30 per cent weight loss."

The contract which Imperial won was put out to tender by Northern Ireland because of a lack of expertise in the country. The Change4Life campaign is backed by charities such as Diabetes UK and the British Heart Foundation.

- Evening Standard