Review BMI limits for NHS breast reduction surgery

Background

We call on the Government to commission an independent clinical review into BMI thresholds for NHS breast reduction surgery, ensuring criteria account for tissue weight, chronic pain, and modern safety guidelines.

Additional details

We believe access to NHS breast reduction is currently an unfair postcode lottery. Local Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) set widely different rules, with some enforcing strict BMI cut-offs as low as 27. This rigid metric can completely ignore the actual physical weight of dense breast tissue, which directly inflates a patient’s BMI on the scale. Denying treatment based solely on BMI can force patients to live with debilitating, chronic back, neck, and shoulder pain. This pain causes long-term health issues.

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