A review of patients who had bariatric surgery in the United Kingdom has found a catalogue of failings in their treatment, with more than two thirds having no psychological counselling before they were referred and only a third being followed up adequately.

Improvements are needed across the whole of the care pathway, with more emphasis on specialist support before and after surgery, says the report by the National Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD).1

Obesity is estimated to cost the UK health services £5bn (€6.2bn; $8bn) every year, with wider costs to society and business estimated at around £50bn. The number of bariatric weight loss procedures in England has nearly doubled in two years from just over 4200 in 2008-9 to 8000 in 2010-11.

Ian Martin, NCEPOD’s clinical …