Health Boards Not Doing Enough Weight Loss Surgery

A researcher says district health boards are not doing enough weight loss surgery for morbidly obese patients. Bariatric surgery, which involves stomach stapling and a gastric bypass, cannot only lead to lasting weight loss but also put diabetes into remission, and reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease.

However, research shows that district health boards differ widely on how many bariatric operations are done. The Canterbury and Waitemata boards have similar populations and obesity rates, but Waitemata does 104 of the operations each year while Canterbury does only 13. Rinki Murphy, an associate professor at the Auckland University said the study suggested access to such surgery was equivalent to a 'postcode lottery'. Murphy said it shows that the variability, according to the district health board regions, needs to be looked at. She said there has to be a fairer process to make sure that everyone has an even chance of accessing this very important treatment.