NHS Provide 8,000 Tummy Tucks – Should This Be Funded Privately?Published on 5th January 2014
According to official statistics, over the past 6 years the NHS have performed almost 8,000 Abdominoplasty “Tummy Tuck” operations, at an estimated cost of £50 million to the tax payer. According to the figures released by parliament, the number of Tummy Tucks carried out on the NHS rose by 6% last year to 1,051.
The Tummy Tuck procedure has an average price of £5,500-£6,500 in a private cosmetic surgery clinic, by a Cosmetic Surgeon in the UK. However the NHS is currently predominantly offering the Abdominoplasty operation to patients who are obese, and in some instances to women who claim to have been left severely depressed by pregnancy in terms of the affect that this has had on their bodies.
Issues have been raised by MP’s that local health authorities may be sanctioning the Abdominoplasty procedures for cosmetic reasons, and therefore wasting taxpayer’s hard earned money. It is reported that in certain parts of the UK, particular health authorities are 5 times more likely to perform this type of operation, than in another part of the country.
The NHS criteria for Tummy Tuck surgery is supposed to be restricted to those who are assessed to have clinical need, and the highest number of these procedures were carried in Darlington, County Durham, where 58 patients had tummy tucks last year. The second highest was in south Birmingham, where 52 people had the surgery on the NHS, followed by Camden, north London, where 44 people received surgery. The average health authority in England carried out 10 operations per year.
The NHS have recently faced fierce criticism after it was highlighted that a single mother, aspiring to become an actress, had a £5,000 Tummy Tuck procedure funded by the NHS to help improve her love life. She claimed to have been embarrassed to reveal her “mummy tummy” to men, and had needed the operation to assist her chances of becoming the “next Julia Roberts”.
A spokesman for NHS England said: “Cosmetic surgery, including, abdominoplasty is rare in the NHS. In rare circumstances, Clinical Commissioning Groups may decide to commission cosmetic surgery. In each circumstance, there would need to be a very strong clinical case for how it would improve a patient’s how it would improve a patient’s health, including significant psychological factors.”
What is a Tummy Tuck?
The Abdominoplasty operation involves flattening the abdomen by removing extra fat and skin, plus performing tightening to the muscles in the abdominal wall. For further information on this please visit our website page
www.liverpoolcosmeticclinic.co.uk/procedures/body/tummy-tuck/
Do you think that this type of operation should be provided by the NHS in our areas such as Merseyside, Lancashire, Cheshire?
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