In partnership with The Royal West Sussex NHS Trust, Streamline Surgical provides obesity surgery for NHS patients. The unit is currently performing over 300 NHS obesity operations each year. The partnership holds NHS contracts with Primary Care Trusts covering most of the South Coast of England and extending into Dorset, Hampshire, Surrey, Kent and London. Referrals have also been taken from further a field including Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire for patients too large or too sick for other Bariatric Centres.

The National Institute of Clinical Excellence has assessed obesity surgery and advised the Department of Health that it is effective for patients with a BMI >40kg/m2 without obesity related illness or BMI>35 kg/m2 with obesity related illnesses.

Unfortunately the NHS cannot afford to treat all eligible patients using these criteria. Instead, patient eligibility is fixed by Primary Care Trusts (PCT's), usually based on BMI and the presence of obesity related illnesses, such as diabetes and heart disease. In some regions a patient without obesity related illness might only be eligible for surgery if their BMI is over 60 kg/m2

Potential NHS patients need to be referred to Streamline Surgical by their General Practitioner. If you think you maybe eligible for obesity surgery, you should contact your GP to be referred. Even if you are outside of our catchment area, your GP should be able to recommend our unit as a 'patient choice' an alternative.