The 100-Year Life Health Education and Government
A non-surgical gastric balloon has been made available on the NHS for the first time. The treatment, which is approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), involves swallowing a pill containing a balloon, which is filled with 550ml of water through a thin tube. It gives the patient a sense of fullness and has the great advantage of not involving surgery, endoscopy, anaesthesia, or hospital stays. Professor Richard Welbourn of Somerset NHS Foundation Trust said patients typically lose 10 to 15 per cent of their weight over four months, at which point the balloon empties and passes naturally. The trust is offering the pill to patients who are not yet fit for bariatric surgery. Obesity costs the NHS an estimated £6.5 billion a year, but this could rise to £10 billion by 2050. An estimated one in four adults in the UK are obese.
