Knee and hip replacements off limits for the overweight

Obese patients are being denied life-changing hip and knee replacements and left in pain in a bid to slash spiralling NHS costs, The Independent can reveal.

- REBECCA THOMAS

One third of NHS areas in England and multiple health boards in Wales are blocking patient access based on their body mass index (BMI). The move, deemed “unfair" and "discriminatory", goes against guidance from the National Institute for Care Excellence (Nice), which states BMI shouldn't be used to restrict patients' access to joint replacement surgery.

Patients are instead being told they must lose weight before they are eligible, but waiting lists for NHS weight loss programmes have ballooned, with some people waiting up to three years to be seen, while other services have shut, unable to cope with demand.

The Royal College of Surgeons criticised the policy, saying that denying patients care could cost them their mobility and cause their health to deteriorate, while Tory peer and former health minister James Bethell called on the government to do more to tackle the obesity crisis and end the "misery for millions".

More than 64 per cent of adults in England were overweight or living with obesity in 2022-23, up from 63 per cent the year before, the most recent data from the Office for National Statistics shows.

The news comes as 7.4 million people were waiting for NHS treatments in March, while NHS leaders have warned they are being forced to cut services to meet tough savings demands from the government.