Express & Star

TV review: Weight Loss Ward

For anyone worrying about putting on a few pounds over Christmas, this rather graphic documentary is likely to have put things in perspective.

Published

The sight of a 47-stone father-of-two struggling to squeeze through his living room door is enough to make anyone feel a bit better about themselves.

But Weight Loss Ward, which gave a glimpse of the obesity clinic at Sunderland Royal Hospital, was far from a demeaning point-and-laugh "shock doc" of the kind often seen on BBC Three.

The facility looks after people who are so overweight that surgery is the only option for them to shed some pounds.

After being admitted, they are put on an intensive diet to get them down to a safe weight to have a temporary operation, which will then enable them to lose more weight before they can undergo a permanent procedure.

Thirty new patients a week go through the doors and 600 operations were carried out in the last year, making it one of the busiest obesity wards in the country.

The show raised some interesting questions about who should take responsibility for these people losing weight – and did not shy away from serving up some hard-hitting facts.

A bed on the ward costs £100 a day to hire, and a patient's stay at the hospital racks up a £150 bill each day. One of the operations, a gastric balloon that expands in the stomach to make the person feel full quicker, is £3,500.

But consultant surgeon Peter Small argues that, with estimates suggesting 50 per cent of the population is expected to be clinically obese by 2050, the immediate cost of surgery will save millions in the long term.

Some less sympathetic viewers may have been left shouting "Just eat less for God's sake!" at the television, especially when the aforementioned Terry Gardener was mysteriously putting on weight during his first few days' stay on the ward and it later emerged he had been secretly buying packets of crisps from the snack trolley.

When he was told by doctors that he was effectively wasting £250 a day of NHS money, he asked: "How is that my problem? It's not costing me anything so why bring it up?"

The goodwill towards Terry would have soon dried up after such an outburst but thankfully the 29-year-old bucked up his ideas and his weight soon started to drop. Within two months he had lost two-stone and was going under the knife, with doctors expecting another eight-stone to follow.

Another happy ending was provided by Deborah Adams, who lost 10-stone in nine months after a gastric sleeve blocked off seven eighths of her stomach, having become housebound when she reached 26-stone.

Erica Barber, who would shut herself in her bedroom all weekend, gorging on cream cakes and tinned peaches, was less successful though – as doctors refused her surgery due to her unresolved psychological issues.

The documentary's real strength was the examination of the patients' emotional troubles and the pain they have gone through. Erica had been abused as a child, while Terry's 39-year-old father died when he was eight. Some may say these are just excuses, but their reliance on food had almost become an addiction, and the sadness in Terry's eyes as he sat despondent in his living room – where he spent all day and night as he was unable to get upstairs – was heartbreaking.

The trailer for next week's show promised more tears and drama. But the makers should be congratulated for taking an interesting perspective on a problem sweeping the nation.

Adam Burling

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.