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The Status of BARIATRIC SURGERY in the UK
On 21st January, the Royal College of Surgeons of England hosted a conference between the Association of Upper GI Surgeons, the Association of Laparoscopic Surgeons and The British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society.
The intention was to come to a consensus regarding the future provision of bariatric surgery in the UK. So far, it has been difficult to provide a service to the bariatric population for several reasons, not least because there were so few trained surgeons to perform this sort of work.
Now, we have a much larger cohort of trained surgeons, the question arises 'who' should be providing bariatric surgery? We will have to wait for the formal consensus statement but it is likely to include; the ability to provide all of the recognised options for bariatric surgery (bypass, band, sleeve gastrectomy, balloons and revisional surgery), a fully working multi-disciplinary team (MDT) approach (dieticians, nurse specialists, specialist anaesthetists and radiologists, as well as surgeons) and a requirement to enter data on performance and outcomes to the national bariatric database, which has only just become operational nation-wide.
There was also a strong contingent (including the current president of BOMSS)suggesting that a 'hub and spoke' model might be a sensible way forwards, allowing a lot of the service (and perhaps the simpler procedures) to be provided closer to patients homes, with the major surgery being performed in larger centres.
You will be pleased to know that EMBS have already anticipated these requirements and whilst there are some practical issues in discussing all the patients across the region, the rest of the provisional criteria are to be met. We await the formal consensus statement and will publish it once it arrives.
EMBS 5/2/10
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