Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many gastric band operations the NHS has carried out in each of the last five years; what the cost to the public purse was of such operations in each of those years.

The information in the following table shows the number of finished consultant episodes (FCEs)¹ with a primary diagnosis² of obesity and a main or secondary procedure³ of stomach bypass, stomach restriction or gastric balloon for 2009-10 to 2013-14⁴.

Table 1: Number of gastric band operations, 2009-10 to 2013-14

Sources: Hospital episode statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre

Notes:

1. An FCE is a continuous period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FCEs are counted against the year in which they end. Figures do not represent the number of different patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the same stay in hospital or in different stays in the same year.

2. The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 20 diagnosis fields in the HES data set and provides the main reason why the patient was admitted to hospital.

3. The number of episodes where the procedure (or intervention) was recorded in any of the 24 procedure fields in a HES record. A record is only included once in each count, even if the procedure is recorded in more than one procedure field of the record. Note that more procedures are carried out than episodes with a main or secondary procedure. For example, patients undergoing a cataract operation would tend to have at least two procedures – removal of the faulty lens and the fitting of a new one – counted in a single episode.

4. HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in National Health Service practice. For example, apparent reductions in activity may be due to a number of procedures which may now be undertaken in outpatient settings and so no longer include in admitted patient HES. Conversely, apparent increases in activity may be due to improved recording of diagnosis or procedure information. Note that HES include activity ending in the year in question and run from April to March, e.g. 2012-13 includes activity ending between 1 April 2012 and 31 March 2013.

5. A primary diagnosis of obesity is not required in order for a gastric balloon procedure to be carried out.

The information in the following table shows the estimated total cost of such procedures for 2011-12 to 2013-14.

Table 2: Estimated total cost of gastric band operations (£ million), 2011-12 to 2013-14

Source: Reference costs, Department of Health

Notes:

1. Reference costs are the average unit cost to NHS trusts and foundation trusts of providing defined services in a given financial year. Reference costs for acute care are collected by healthcare resource group (HRG), which are standard groupings of clinically similar treatments that consume similar levels of healthcare resource.

2. Total costs are estimated from the unit costs and activity submitted in reference costs.

3. Costs are for the following HRGs which were introduced in 2011-12 reference costs:

FZ84Z Stomach Bypass Procedures for Obesity

FZ85Z Restrictive Stomach Procedures for Obesity

FZ86Z Endoscopic Insertion of Gastric Balloon for Obesity

Prior to 2011-12 there were no specific HRGs associated with gastric band operations, and costs would have been reported against other HRGs.