Bariatric surgery abroad: compare weight loss surgery clinics and plan two years of follow-up

In the UK, NICE guidance on overweight and obesity management (NG246, chapter on medicines and surgery, published 14 January 2025) says adults should be offered a referral for assessment by a specialist weight management service, to see whether weight loss surgery suits them, if they:

1. have a BMI of 40 or more, or a BMI of 35 to 39.9 with a significant health condition that could improve if they lost weight, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure or obstructive sleep apnoea, and
2. agree to the long-term follow-up that surgery needs, for example a review every year for life.

For people of South Asian, Chinese, other Asian, Middle Eastern, Black African or African-Caribbean background, NICE says a threshold 2.5 lower can be used, because these groups carry more central fat and their cardiometabolic risk rises at a lower BMI. People diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in the past 10 years should be offered a faster assessment at a BMI of 35 or more, and may be considered from a BMI of 30.

The assessment is more than a weight check. NICE expects a team to look at your medical history, your eating patterns and nutrition, your mental health and your fitness for an anaesthetic, and to talk through any plans for pregnancy. Clinics abroad may use different criteria, but a clinic that skips this assessment is skipping a step UK guidance treats as essential. This guide is for adults: NICE does not generally recommend surgery for children and young people.

The right operation depends on your health, your weight, any other conditions and the surgeon's assessment. NICE says the choice should be made jointly with you, weighing the evidence, the facilities and the surgeon's experience. A price list is not the place to start. The summaries below follow the NHS's own description of how each operation is done (page reviewed 5 February 2024); the linked pages cover each one in depth.

Other procedures listed on Flymedi: the swallowable gastric balloon, gastric sleeve revision, gastric band removal, diabetes surgery, laparoscopic ileal interposition, revisional bariatric surgery and floppy Nissen fundoplication, which is an operation for acid reflux rather than for weight loss.

Whichever operation you choose, get its name in writing before you travel, and ask for a copy of the operation note before you leave hospital.

Every weight loss operation carries risks. NICE says your surgeon should explain them before you decide, including the risk of dying around the time of the operation, the possible complications, and the longer-term demands of surgery. The NHS lists the main complications as blood clots in the leg or lung, a leak from the stomach or the new join in the days or weeks after a bypass or sleeve, wound infection, a narrowing or blockage of the stomach or small intestine, gallstones after rapid weight loss, excess skin, and malnutrition, because the gut absorbs vitamins and minerals less well. NICE also notes that revision surgery, if a first operation has not worked, carries a higher rate of complications and a higher mortality than a first operation.

BOMSS advises UK residents to be cautious about surgery abroad. Its concerns include:

1. assessment and counselling before surgery that are too brief or not expert enough;
2. being offered an operation that does not suit you, or having a different operation from the one you expected, sometimes without knowing the details of what was done;
3. surgery whose quality and safety you cannot judge from home;
4. blood clots in the leg or lung, which can be life-threatening, after long-distance travel soon after surgery;
5. little or no routine follow-up, which makes weight regain and nutritional deficiencies more likely;
6. no direct access to a specialist if a late complication appears, when most GPs are not trained in caring for people after weight loss surgery.

BOMSS also says fewer than half of NHS hospital trusts have access to a bariatric service, and that legal redress is much harder if something goes wrong abroad. The NHS says it is not liable for negligence or failed treatment abroad. These are the reasons for the checks in this guide: a surgeon you can verify, a follow-up plan in writing, specialist insurance and enough time to recover before you fly home.

Before you pay anything:

1. Check the surgeon. Ask for the surgeon's full name, registration number and the regulator that issued it, then look them up on that regulator's public register. If you cannot check it yourself, treat the claim as unverified. If a surgeon says they are registered in the UK, search the General Medical Council's online register.
2. Check their experience. NICE says bariatric surgeons should have relevant supervised training and specialist experience, and should submit their results to a national audit such as the UK's National Bariatric Surgery Registry. Ask how many of your operation the surgeon performs each year, and whether the hospital reports its results to a registry.
3. Ask for defined figures. Ask for the complication and readmission figures for your operation, how they are defined, and over what period. A figure without a definition tells you very little.
4. Check the team. Ask who will assess you before surgery. UK guidance expects medical, nutritional, psychological and surgical input.
5. Check any accreditation at its source. If a hospital says it is accredited or certified, check the claim on the issuing organisation's own website, and ask what the certificate covers.

Be wary of a clinic that will not name your surgeon before you pay, offers surgery without an assessment, pushes you to book quickly, or cannot give you its price inclusions and follow-up plan in writing.

A UK Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) or European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) does not cover travelling for planned treatment. The NHS also warns that most travel insurance will not cover planned treatment abroad, so you may need specialist cover. Before you buy, check that the policy wording covers complications, a longer stay, getting you home and any corrective surgery. Travelling against FCDO advice can invalidate travel insurance.

If you have health insurance through work or a global policy, ask the insurer in writing whether it covers any part of weight loss surgery abroad. Do not assume it does.

If you live in Ireland, the EU Cross Border Directive scheme lets you have planned treatment in another EU or EEA country and claim back part of the cost from the HSE. It only covers healthcare you would be eligible for in the public system in Ireland, it does not cover countries outside the EU and EEA, and it does not cover travel, accommodation or translation. You pay the provider first and apply for repayment afterwards, and the HSE repays the lower of the cost abroad and the cost of the same care in an Irish public hospital. You need a referral from a GP or from a consultant treating you as a public patient, and an outpatient consultation before inpatient treatment. Prior notification is optional, but it tells you whether you are eligible and roughly how much you would get back. The list above shows which countries are in the EU; a separate scheme covers some private treatment in Northern Ireland.

Reviews and photos show individual experiences. When you read them:

1. Look for reviews written months after surgery that describe the follow-up, not only the hospital stay.
2. Treat weight-loss figures in reviews as personal and unchecked.
3. The before-and-after photos on this page are supplied by the clinics, with patient consent, and the clinics choose which to share.
4. Ask the surgeon for their own recorded results for your operation rather than relying on photos.

Read how Flymedi collects reviews before relying on any rating.

• NICE, Overweight and obesity management (NG246), chapter on medicines and surgery, published 14 January 2025.
• British Obesity & Metabolic Specialist Society, statement on going abroad for weight loss surgery, 6 September 2023.
• NHS, Going abroad for medical treatment (13 October 2023) and Weight loss surgery (5 February 2024).
• NHS Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, policy for post-operative support for self-funded bariatric surgery, 4 September 2025.
• HSE, Cross Border Directive scheme pages.
• FCDO, foreign travel advice for each listed country.

The author and the medical reviewer are named at the top of this page. The clinic listing, patient stories, photos and reviews are shown from clinic data and are not part of this guide.