Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the cost to the public purse of denying or delaying treatment for patients requiring bariatric surgery.

NHS England has not made an assessment of the cost or delaying treatment for patients requiring bariatric surgery.

Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have a statutory responsibility to commission services which meet the needs of their local population. When developing their associated commissioning policies and treatment criteria, we would expect CCGs to take into account any relevant current guidance, and consider the wider context of their actions which may include the costs incurred as a result of setting criteria which may deny or delay treatment for patients requiring bariatric surgery. Treatment decisions should always be made by doctors based on patients’ clinical needs.