A HAMPSHIRE father is pleading with health bosses to give him the vital treatment he needs for his obesity - or he could face a 50 per cent chance of dying in five years.

Neil Crouch is 36 and weighs 23 stone and suffers from high blood pressure, diabetes and renal failure.

He has been referred to numerous dieticians and even tried weight-reducing medication, all to no avail.

In desperation, Mr Crouch, who lives with his wife and three children in Beech Crescent, Hythe, agreed to stomach-stapling, or bariatric, surgery, only to find that his local health bosses, New Forest Primary Care Trust (PCT), could not approve the procedure.

A trust spokeswoman said that in agreeing to fund the surgery, guidelines laid down by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice), which state that all patients must attend an obesity clinic before undertaking the procedure, must be followed.

She said: "Regrettably, at present, there isn't a specialist obesity clinic in the Southampton area."

The New Forest PCT is now working with a consultant to see if Mr Crouch could attend a clinic elsewhere.

The nearest place is at the King George VII hospital at Midhurst, West Sussex.

If he was able to be referred there Mr Crouch would face a two-month wait before surgery.

The spokeswoman continued: "New Forest PCT is obliged to adhere to the Nice guidelines when considering patients recommended for bariatric surgery. In this case the patient did not meet the Nice criteria.

"However, we are concerned he receives appropriate treatment and will be working with the consultant to explore all the available options.

"New Forest PCT is currently considering future provision for the treatment and prevention of obesity as part of its developing health strategy.

"Until this strategy is finalised we will consider each case on an individual basis to agree an appropriate treatment plan."

Mr Crouch said: "I'm desperate for the operation. I think they should give it to me. There's no way that Southampton patients can attend the obesity clinics - there are only six in NHS hospitals, but I don't know where they are.

"This is very hard to take in and has sent me into a depression. I've got three children as well and they're not happy with my size. My doctor is not happy at all. Obviously he's doing everything he can. He's given me some drugs, but it didn't work."

Dr Richard Holt, who has been treating Mr Crouch, said the operation was vital.

He said: "He won't be able to lose weight in any other way and unless he loses weight then he will have all those health problems long-term, so it's very vital.

"Somebody who has the levels of diabetes that Neil has got has about a 50 per cent chance of dying in five years.

"Those sorts of mortality figures are significantly worse than many cancers and other heart problems, so the condition that he's in is very serious."