Professor Richard Welbourn

Professor Richard Welbourn is a consultant upper gastrointestinal and bariatric surgeon in Taunton with extensive experience in weight loss surgery and benign upper gastrointestinal conditions. His areas of expertise include bariatric procedures such as gastric bypass, gastric sleeve, gastric band and gastric balloon, as well as weight loss injections and inguinal hernia repair. He privately practises at Nuffield Health Taunton Hospital, and holds a long-standing NHS post at Musgrove Park Hospital, Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, where he has practised since 1998, and is recognised for his contribution to the development of bariatric surgery services in the UK.

If weight loss medications aren't working for you, weight loss surgery could be a more effective solution. Bariatric surgery has been called a 'free injection of GLP-1 for life'. Professor Welbourn prides himself in combining his outstanding expertise and long-standing academic credentials in his specialty, providing an excellent service for patients in the south west peninsula and areas to the west of Bristol in particular.

Professor Welbourn qualified in medicine from University College London and completed his postgraduate training across Bath, Manchester and the South West of England. He was awarded an MD by thesis from the University of London and is a Fellow of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of England, Edinburgh and Glasgow. His training also included a period of research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard University, where he further developed his academic and clinical interests, alongside visits to specialist centres in the United States, Europe and Australia to advance his expertise in laparoscopic surgery.

He established the NHS bariatric surgery unit at Musgrove Park Hospital in 2004 and subsequently founded The Bariatric Group in 2005. These services combined to become the first 'International Center of Excellence for Bariatric Surgery' accredited by the US Surgical Review Corporation in 2009, with reaccreditation in 2024. His unit has performed several thousand procedures, and he has published the largest series of gastric bypass operations in the UK, involving over 2,000 patients.

Professor Welbourn’s clinical practice focuses on laparoscopic, or keyhole, surgery for weight loss and benign upper gastrointestinal conditions, including hernia and gallbladder surgery. He also provides a gastric band adjustment clinic and a weight loss medication service, supporting patients through both surgical and non-surgical approaches to weight management.

In addition to his clinical work, Professor Welbourn has a strong academic profile. He holds an honorary associate professorship at the University of Bristol and has co-authored over 100 publications and book chapters, with his work cited more than 10,000 times in the scientific literature. He was the lead surgeon for the National Institute for Health Research By-Band-Sleeve study, the largest study of bariatric procedures globally, and is currently a co-investigator on the LightBAR study, which compares intensive weight loss interventions, including GLP-1 medications, with bariatric surgery.

He has held a number of national and international leadership roles, including founding the UK National Bariatric Surgery Registry and serving as its chair, as well as president of the British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society. He has also contributed to NICE guidance on obesity and led Royal College commissioning guidance in this field.

Professor Welbourn is actively involved in education and training, having delivered laparoscopic courses in the South West and taught for the Royal College of Surgeons. He is frequently invited to speak at national and international meetings and contributes to several scientific journals as a section editor, associate editor and peer reviewer. His work has been recognised with multiple national and international awards in surgery and obesity management.