Hospitals in Leicester are planning to take on extra staff to cope with the number of obese patients having weight-loss surgery.

It comes as the number of patients going under the knife in a last-ditch effort to lose weight has tripled in three years.

An extra doctor has already been taken on and there are plans to expand the service by recruiting more surgeons.

Between March this year and April 2010, the NHS in Leicestershire will have spent £600,000 on weight-loss surgery for 72 patients from the city and county.

GPs in Leicestershire are also spending nearly £1m a year on diet pills for overweight patients.

In April, new rules were brought in by hospitals meaning people have to be heavier than ever to qualify for surgery.

Only people who are super obese – with a body mass index (BMI) of 50 or more – are considered for operations. Previously anyone classed as “morbidly obese” with a BMI reading of 40 or more could have the surgery if they were recommended for it.

A normal BMI reading is between 18.5 and 24.9.

BMI is the measurement that compares a person’s weight and height to determine their overall fitness.

Without the change, surgeons believe they would be swamped with patients.

Sukhbir Ubhi, a consultant surgeon, has been carrying out weight-loss operations at Leicester Royal Infirmary for 10 years.

He said: “People are getting heavier and there is also much more awareness about weight-loss surgery and its potential benefits.

“The surgery isn’t suitable for all patients.

“They have to have a fairly intense assessment before the operation and afterwards they have to make significant changes to their lifestyles.”

Mr Ubhi added: “If the rules on who qualifies for this NHS surgery had not been changed I think we would be inundated.”

Gastric banding or bypass surgery is only available on the NHS to patients who show a long-term commitment to carry on eating less and taking regular exercise.

Kath Beardow, from Oadby, was so overweight she was warned she might not survive a gastric bypass operation in 2006.

Crippled with arthritis in both hips and knees due to a lifetime of being overweight, she knew she had no other way of cutting her weight from 24 stone.

She said: “I was a fat baby, a fat child and I grew into a fat adult.

“At one point, I was 30 stone and had tried every slimming club, diet and pills but couldn’t get my weight down.

“Nothing made any difference and I knew an operation was the only thing that would help me.”

The former radiographer, who also underwent a tummy tuck operation to get rid of excess skin, now weighs around 13 stone.

She said: “Without the operation, I would probably have been dead from a heart attack or stroke within 18 months.”

Source: This is Leicestershire