On 26th July , NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence)* released updated recommendations to their clinical guidelines on the Management of Obesity that will mean more patients will be able to benefit from life-changing bariatric surgery, and sooner in their care journey.
This is a huge win for patients living with obesity – currently bariatric surgery is only considered as a treatment option for those patients who meet a tight criteria.
The updated guidelines will mean that variations in practice will reduce and the number of referrals and surgeries carried out will increase.
An academic paper with contribution by Ethicon, the Surgical Technologies Company of Johnson & Johnson MedTech was referenced and played a role in the update to these guidelines, to demonstrate that bariatric surgery is cost-effective which is one of the key reasons why NICE has recommended that access should be increased.
To continue to support healthcare professionals in treating patients living with obesity, J&J MedTech UK & Ireland hosted a webinar with two leading Upper Gastrointestinal, Bariatric and Metabolic surgeons, Shaw Somers and Dimitri Pournaras.
During the webinar, they discussed the key changes to the guidelines, and what they meant for healthcare professionals (HCPs) and their patients, including the reasons for the update and what implications they had on HCPs working in obesity care.
“The obesity crisis is not going away; it’s only going to get worse.” Shaw says. “This is the first time NICE has published the guidance that integrated care systems are mandated to comply with unless there is a good clinical reason not to. And there isn’t a good clinical reason not to. It gives us the ability to prioritise the patients, they can come directly to us if that’s the right priority for them. This is a really good development and it means potentially we can treat more patients and the net is wider. It also allows us to demonstrate business cases to a trust and ICSs that stacks up with data.”
To watch Shaw and Dimitri break down and discuss the NICE guideline updates, and to learn more about what Ethicon can offer to help, click here.