Bariatric surgery

The health of people with obesity can be improved by changes in lifestyle, medication and surgery.

Our multidisciplinary teams work together to carefully assess each person and tailor a treatment plan to suit them. Our goal is to improve health through promoting lifestyle changes, treatment of other associated conditions, and, where appropriate, bariatric (also known as metabolic or weight loss) surgery.

We take the time to make sure patients have a good understanding of the process and effects of bariatric surgery, which is a major operation and is sometimes used as a treatment for people who are very obese. We also provide long-term support following surgery to make sure good health is maintained.

Based at Musgrove Park Hospital, we are the largest obesity and metabolic surgery service in the South West, performing approximately 250 operations a year. We perform gastric banding, Roux-en-Y (gastric) bypass and sleeve gastrectomy operations by keyhole (laparoscopic) surgery. We also place intragastric balloons endoscopically and in revisional surgery. We are the only centre in the UK to be awarded Centre of Excellence status by the Surgical Review Corporation.