The BBC news led last week with the story that the number of people in England undergoing surgery on the NHS to help them lose weight has increased 10-fold in less than a decade.

This week’s GP newspaper looks at the issue from a different perspective and exclusively reveals that data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show large regional variation in the number of weight-loss procedures. The Healthcare Republic coverage includes details from all 118 PCOs who took part. Read it to find out how your local ones did.

It’s a story also picked up on Thursday by the Press Association and numerous local newspapers.

It is the very definition of ‘postcode lottery’ with a 143-fold variation between the largest and smallest number of bariatric operations per primary care organisations (PCOs).

In the past such stories would have provided ammunition to fire at PCOs for not following clinical guidance from either NICE or SIGN.

But the impending abolition of PCTs means that all too soon GP commissioners will be faced with the funding headaches that were once reserved for managers.

How to react?

The GPC is right to warn that consortia will not be able to afford increased provision because of a lack of resources, leaving them open to legal challenges.

More detail is certainly needed about the implications of the NHS Constitution and exactly what rights it bestows patients.

But commissioning also represents an undeniable opportunity for GPs to prove their value to the NHS and its patients. The big question I suppose though is: can GP commissioning tackle the bariatric surgery lottery?