A pilot study of primary care physicians' attitude to weight loss surgery in England: are the young more prejudiced?

Background: Primary care practitioners (PCP) are the "gate-keepers" for publicly funded weight loss surgery (WLS) in the United Kingdom, but their attitude toward WLS has not been studied to date.

Objective: This pilot study aimed to investigate opinions and experience of PCPs regarding WLS in the United Kingdom.

Setting: PCPs from 3 publicly funded primary care consortiums from distinct geographic areas within the United Kingdom were surveyed.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey approach was used to assess PCP attitude to WLS surgery. A questionnaire was sent electronically to PCPs, designed to assess PCP demographic, experience, knowledge, and attitude regarding obesity and WLS. For the purposes of analysis, PCPs were divided into junior and senior based on duration of practice.

Results: Of PCPs, 35 completed and returned the questionnaire. Although PCPs stated that approximately 30% of their patients were obese, 17 (49%) had made not a single referral for WLS in the previous 12 months. PCPs overestimated early WLS mortality rate more than 10-fold and 23 (66%) did not feel confident providing care to patients post-WLS. Junior PCPs were significantly more likely to feel that WLS should not be publicly funded (P = .01).

Conclusions: These findings suggest a prejudice against WLS amongst PCPs in England, particularly among junior doctors.