Obesity rates are putting a severe strain on health services after rates of hospital admissions for the condition more than tripled over the last five years. Over the last year alone, there has been a rise of 60% in the number of people taken into hospital due to their weight.
The figures include patients being treated for conditions such as organ failure, heart disease and type 2 diabetes. They also include surgical procedures to help patients lose weight, such as stomach stapling and gastric banding.
Procedures such as stomach stapling are known as bariatric surgery and were approved for the treatment of patients with a Body Mass Index of over 40 – or 35 if there are other health conditions – by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence in 2007.
Between 2008-2009, there were 8,085 admissions for obesity, with over half of those for obesity and the rest to treat conditions caused by excess weight.
The head of the NHS Information Centre Tim Straughan said that the dramatic increase in obesity-related admissions demonstrated the ‘growing impact’ obesity was having on the health of the nation, as well as the pressure it was putting on ‘limited NHS resources.’
The charity the National Obesity Forum has blamed the rise in bariatric surgeries on society looking for a quick fix for their weight problems. A representative said that as a society, we no longer tried diet and exercise as a solution to the problem and warned that increased demand for the procedure was going to stretch NHS capabilities.