As well as the massive media attention focussing on the 'postcode lottery' patients face when being referred for bariatric surgery, in Hull yesterday (21st January 2010), it was revealed that 36 patients awaiting weight loss surgery have been removed from the NHS waiting list.

The Hull Daily Mail reported:

"NHS Hull cuts patients from weight-loss surgery waiting list"

'MORE than 30 people who were on a waiting list for weight loss surgery have been told they must now look at other ways of shedding the pounds.

Health officials in Hull have decided 36 people previously expecting surgery should try other weight-loss options, such as fitness programmes and diet schemes.

NHS Hull, the city's primary care trust (PCT), insists the move €“ which comes after a review of those on the waiting list €“ is not a cost-cutting measure.

The review of the patients due to receive the surgery, known as bariatric surgery, was carried out after a new centre for weight management services opened in Hull in April last year.

People in the city wanting to lose weight now have various options, including the Fit Fans scheme that requires them people to join a structured 12-week programme, and Why Weight?, which offers nutritional advice and teaches cooking skills.

Officials have only recently reviewed the cases on the waiting list, which also considered those people placed on the list before April.

NHS Hull then sent letters out to those affected earlier this month.

The PCT said they were removed from the list because they "did not appear to meet the necessary criteria".

To be placed on the waiting list, patients need to be recommended for surgery by a consultant and the NHS Hull exceptional treatments panel.

However, Dr Wendy Richardson, director of public health for Hull and chairman of the panel, said: "Patients had previously been placed on the waiting list for surgery but were later found, during the review, to have been listed prematurely as exceptional treatments panel approval was still outstanding.

There is no single reason for the delay in reviewing the list. Admittedly the process has taken longer than we would have liked, but the appointment of a specialist bariatric nurse towards the end of last year really helped in getting this comprehensive review underway."

A further 108 people remain on the waiting list.

Each bariatric procedure €“ which can include gastric banding €“ costs the NHS between £8,000 and £10,000 and does not include aftercare costs such as hospital-based critical care that is required for each patient.

In comparison, NHS Hull said it costs the health service £165 for a person to complete its Fit Fans programme.'

We would like to find out how many of our members this affects and on what basis they were 'selected' for removal from the waiting list.

• Are you one of the 36? if so, what "necessary criteria do you 'appear' not to meet"?
• Are you one of the 108 patients remaining on the list?
• Are you worried you may be next for selection?
• Have you attended one of these Weight Mangement services?

Please get in touch so we can determine if the PCT's claim is valid or (as some are reporting), just another cost-cutting exercise.

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