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23/11/2005
Row breaks out over obese patients decision
A row has broken out over a decision to ban obese patients from undergoing hip and knee replacement surgery.
Three primary care trusts in Suffolk announced that patients with a body mass index (BMI) over 30 would no longer be eligible for the surgery, unless all other treatments to alleviate their pain and disability had failed.
People of average weight have a BMI somewhere between 18.5 and 24.9.
The new measures are being introduced in an aim to cut costs, the trusts admitted.
However, the plans have been criticised by the Patients Association. A spokesperson said: “People are obese for all sorts of reasons. Unless there is a clinical reason for not carrying out surgery they should be entitled to have an operation as anyone else would be.”
However, a spokeswoman for the Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire strategic health authority said: “Patients will be assessed according to their clinical needs, as is the norm, and if necessary, advised to lose weight before treatment, which will reduce the risks and improve outcomes for surgery.
“The message is that patients who need clinical treatment will get it.”
(KMcA/SP)
Three primary care trusts in Suffolk announced that patients with a body mass index (BMI) over 30 would no longer be eligible for the surgery, unless all other treatments to alleviate their pain and disability had failed.
People of average weight have a BMI somewhere between 18.5 and 24.9.
The new measures are being introduced in an aim to cut costs, the trusts admitted.
However, the plans have been criticised by the Patients Association. A spokesperson said: “People are obese for all sorts of reasons. Unless there is a clinical reason for not carrying out surgery they should be entitled to have an operation as anyone else would be.”
However, a spokeswoman for the Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire strategic health authority said: “Patients will be assessed according to their clinical needs, as is the norm, and if necessary, advised to lose weight before treatment, which will reduce the risks and improve outcomes for surgery.
“The message is that patients who need clinical treatment will get it.”
(KMcA/SP)
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