Doctors attack quick fix plan for more gastric bands to fight obesity

Doctors and mental health workers claim that surgery is not the only answer to obesity
Doctors and mental health workers claim that surgery is not the only answer to obesity
KIRSTY WIGGLESWORTH/AP

Plans to offer more gastric bands on the NHS are a short-term fix that ignores the way mental illness affects obesity, medical professionals claim.

The criticism comes as Duncan Selbie, chief executive of Public Health England, warned yesterday that more hospitals would be needed if the crisis was not tackled.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has proposed offering more type-2 diabetics free gastric bands, at a cost of £12 million, to tackle the nation’s obesity crisis.

Doctors and mental health workers claim that surgery is not the only answer and say that some patients are liquidising fish and chips after an operation because it tackles only their physical symptoms.

More than three million British people have type-2 diabetes and the disease