NHS hope for Hampshire clinic's balloon-in-a-pill weight-loss treatment

A new weight-loss pill - a capsule that contains an inflatable gastric balloon - could soon be available on the NHS.

For those whose obesity poses a risk to their health, surgery to fit a gastric band or balloon may be available but waiting lists are long and treatments can be invasive.

A private clinic in Winchester is pioneering a £4,000 treatment that involves the patient swallowing a capsule that contains a gastric balloon that is inflated once it reaches the stomach.

The treatment - the only one of its kind currently approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) - is designed to make the patient feel fuller so, in theory, they eat less.

Allurion, the company behind it, says it is in talks with several NHS trusts about rolling the treatment out.

NHS England said this sort of treatment was not nationally commissioned, so would be a decision for each local area.

For weight loss intervention on the NHS certain criteria must be met, including high body mass index (BMI) and an increased risk of diabetes.

Video by Ben Moore

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