Economic cost of obesity 'could be slashed'

The financial toll of unemployment, housing and incapacity benefit, hospital admissions and prescriptions is increasing every year but could be cut dramatically if people were given surgery, they said.

The direct cost of obesity and related illnesses to the NHS is 4.3bn a year and millions more to the wider economy.

A report published today, from the Royal College of Surgeons, National Obesity Forum and health firms Allergan and Covidien, said thousands of patients are missing out on surgery, pushing costs higher.

NHS trusts are not following guidelines set down by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), which say people with a body mass index (BMI) over 40, or between 35 and 40 if they also have a condition such as diabetes or high blood pressure, are eligible for surgery. Experts calculated that if five per cent of eligible patients were given weight-loss surgery, the gain to the economy within three years would be 382m. If 25 per cent were granted surgery, the gain within three years would be 1.3bn.

The Government could also expect savings in benefit payments of 35m to 150m as people get back to work, the study said.

If Nice guidance was followed, direct NHS cost savings would be around 56m a year.

Taking these figures into account, experts argue that weight-loss surgery effectively pays for itself within a year.

Around a million people in England meet the Nice criteria for surgery, while around a quarter are both fit for the operation and want it.

However, barely 4,000 NHS weight-loss operations were carried out last year.

Today’s report, called Shedding The Pounds, included data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.