Patients in Somerset who need bariatric surgery are getting treatment from some of the very best surgeons in the world.
This is according to the surgical review corporation, which has declared Musgrove Park Hospital an international centre of excellence status for its bariatric surgery.
It is the only hospital in the UK to have been reaccredited with this prestigious status.
Experts from the United States visited Musgrove’s bariatric department this year to look at the way patients are treated and cared for by hospital staff.
Bariatric (or weight-loss) surgery includes a variety of procedures performed on people who have obesity. People are helped to achieve or maintain significant weight loss when surgeons reduce the size of their stomach with a gastric band, remove a portion of their stomach (sleeve gastrectomy), or by performing a gastric bypass.
Centre of excellence status is awarded to hospitals that carry out a certain number of bariatric surgery operations, and those that have a team of highly skilled clinicians, including consultant surgeons, anaesthetists, endocrinologists, specialist nurses, specialist dietitians and clinical psychologists.
In 2016/17 Musgrove carried out about 200 operations and a combination of laparoscopic bypasses, bands and sleeves for patients in Somerset and the wider south west.
It is the third successive time that the hospital has been recognised in this way and Mr David Mahon, consultant – general surgery at the hospital, said it was testimony to the way surgeons and the specialist multi-disciplinary team in the department work to educate patients of the causes of obesity before a decision is made about surgery.
“We are very pleased to have been reaccredited by this leading international surgical review team,” he said.
“It is the second time they have visited us here at Musgrove and their findings will come as great reassurance to people in Somerset that they are getting the best possible care and treatment here.
“They told us that they were impressed with the education that we offer patients, both for the bariatric surgery itself, and prevention tips for them to lose weight instead of surgery.
“Inspectors also praised the way healthcare workers across the hospital care for heavy patients, even if they are not in for bariatric surgery.”
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