Local health care professionals are “delighted” that Enniskillen’s South West Acute Hospital is the location in focus for the proposed first weight-loss surgery centre in Northern Ireland.

The proposals for the bariatric surgery service are to be taken forward by a service planning group appointed by the Department of Health, with the assessment focusing on the South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen as the location. The service planning group will be jointly headed by consultant surgeon Mark Taylor and Alastair Campbell, Director of Hospital Services Reform in the Department. A report with options and recommendations for a regional bariatric service will then be presented to the Department by this summer.

Enniskillen medical professional Dr. Geoff Mulligan commented on why he believes bariatric surgery is so important. He said: “Obesity is very harmful to health and bariatric surgery has been shown to have fantastic results and I’ve witnessed that. I have seen people who are at the extreme of obesity doing fantastically well with bariatric surgery. Although bariatric surgery itself has its risks.”

He continued: “There are interventions which are important for everyone like cutting out sweets and sugars and crisps, but when it comes to a few individuals who have severe obesity and simply can’t turn things around, bariatric surgery has been a life saver.”

He added: “There’s definitely a place for bariatric surgery as far as I am concerned. I’d be very happy to see it provided locally.”

Currently weight loss surgery such as bariatric surgery is not provided within Northern Ireland’s health service, although a small number of patients have been funded for the treatment in Great Britain. Bariatric surgery can lead to significant weight loss and help improve, or even reverse, some obesity-related conditions, such as type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure. However, it is a major operation which also requires significant long term lifestyle changes and will only be available to patients meeting specific criteria.

Democratic Unionist Councillor Raymond Farrell who works in a health care profession said: “This is something that I had raised with the Western Trust quite some time ago as I believe it was a really important piece of health service development that I would love to see in the west. I am absolutely delighted to know that the South West Acute Hospital has been chosen to implement this. I think it is a really good thing.”

Councillor Farrell added: “As we all know, obesity can have very significant impact on people’s overall holistic health. This here will certainly be something that will help a great many people in the area and I greatly welcome this development.”