Daily Telegraph 21/04/08
Obese people may be deliberately trying to put on even more weight in order to qualify for weight-loss surgery on the NHS, it has been claimed.
Demand for surgery to reduce the size of the stomach has soared in some areas, meaning only those patients who are grossly overweight can be considered.

Guidelines say that anyone who has a Body Mass Index - calculated by dividing weight by height squared in kilos and metres - of more than 40 qualifies for weight-loss surgery on the NHS if they have failed to lose weight in other ways.

Daily Telegraph 05/05/08
The Government’s medical advisory body is recommending radical surgery to help patients and the public purse, writes Lorraine Fraser.

More than one million people who are grossly overweight should be able to have stomach stapling operations on the National Health Service to cure their eating disorders, according to the body that advises the Government on which treatments should be available the NHS.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) has decided that the consequences of being seriously obese are so great for individuals and the public purse that drastic treatment should be offered routinely where all else has failed.