Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of body mass index-based restrictions on waiting times, pain, mobility and disease progression among patients awaiting joint replacement surgery.

It is the responsibility of individual integrated care boards (ICBs) to determine policies for their local area, including that of the body mass index (BMI) threshold criteria for joint replacement surgery.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has developed guidelines for BMI thresholds by experts based on a thorough assessment of the available evidence and through extensive engagement with interested parties. They are not mandatory but represent best practice and National Health Service organisations are expected to take them fully into account in ensuring that local services meet the needs of their populations.

As with all surgery, BMI should be considered as part of a holistic, personalised perioperative evaluation of the risks versus clinical need for joint replacement surgery of an individual patient. However, BMI should not be considered in isolation and in and of itself should not act as a barrier to surgery.

No specific assessment has been made of the impact of BMI based restrictions on waiting times, pain, mobility, and disease progression among patients awaiting joint replacement surgery, and there are no current plans for the Department to issue guidance to ICBs on this matter.