Thank Goodness for the NHS

 Hi everyone,

I am new here but I have been combing the message boards for a few days now and I can't tell you how fortunate I feel to be living in the UK.  It is unfortunate that so many Americans are feeling such pressure to pay for WLS and/or to have it approved by insurance.  Thank goodness I do not have to worry about that!  (there are too many other more important things to focus upon other than funding)

Only 44 days to go before my surgery!  

 It didn't take me long to see just how lucky I am.   Reading the thread about "The British Way" has reinforced this.  

Hello, welcome!  I believe the NHS will eventually fund a lot of bariatric surgery, but it's very patchy at the moment.  I couldn't wait, and the only alternative was to gain another 4 - 5 stone to attract funding and go on the waiting list!

Which of the procedures are you planning to have, and where?  There is a great deal of good advice and experience on the boards, but it tends to be americo-centric.  Between us we should be able to give advice on what foods and supplements are available in the UK.  

Best of luck for the op.  

306 at op, 56 pounds down at 12 weeks post, target 208.  Life is good. 

Hello and a big welcome to you!!!

What a great post and as someone who was raised in the USA-I can tell you I WHOLEheartedly agree!!

Not only do folks have to FIGHT for their lives with bariatric surgery-many have to fight for their lives period.

Many people have lost their homes and some have lost their lives because they didn't have medical insurance and didn't have the means to PAY such outrageous prices.

Before I left the US over a year ago-I had lost my insurance. The last month I was there-my medicine costs (not even doctor's appts) cost me $957.00. YES!! It was HORRIBLE. Imagine thinking the following "Gosh, should I buy groceries for the week or get my prescription filled?"

SCARY !!!!

So grateful indeed!!

 Thank you for your warm welcomes!

I am going into Charing Cross Hospital (in Hammersmith, London) for a sleeve gastrectomy on the 21st of July.  My GP recommended weight loss surgery a couple of years ago, but it was not until this year that I finally persuaded myself that it was a good idea for me.  I am fortunate that I am young enough that my weight has not yet caused any serious health issues for me, but I do have insulin resistance and endocrine issues (PCOS and hypothyroidism).  It is hoped that I will see improvements in these areas after surgery.  :)

I also spent some time living in the US, and was lucky enough to have platinum health care coverage through my husband's work.  Whatever I wanted from a doctor I could have, but I was always aware that other people were not as fortunate.  It also seemed to me that my GP(wonderful though he was) was often more willing to prescribe a pill than to consider preventative measures.  Everything was extreme and it made me a little uneasy.

Here in the UK I have a wonderful GP and a cracker-jack surgical team.  I know that I will be in good hands.  I feel no need to travel to a developing country for my surgery (many Americans seem to go to Mexico or various South American countries) and I am confident that I will receive excellent after-care.  I am happy.

I hope that the new government continues to expand the funding of weight loss surgery.  It seems to me that it is an investment that will reduce future costs to the healthcare system and help ensure a healthier and more productive society overall.

Welcome! I am afraid that you are one of the lucky ones! Most of us are self-pay - I have come across very few NHS wls patients.  And it seems that this will get worse not better - the obesity clinic in Reading is talking of stopping wls on the  NHS.

But one thing that we do get is that after surgery, if things go wrong, the NHS will pick us up and do any treatment.

There are several vsg people on here if you want support,  not as many as on the main OH VSG board but the US and the UK experiences are not the same. It seems to me that in the US, people have about five times the numeber of tests we have over here! All I had befoer my band was a general pre-anaesthetic check. In the US they have psych evaluations, endoscopies, overnight sleep tests and others I have forgotten! Not sure whether we do too little or they do too much! I incline slightly to the latter - if the docs know they are getting paid by the insruance cos for every test and every visit, they have no incentive not to do every test imaginable!

Kate

 How interesting.  At Charing Cross I was put through a multitude of tests before I was accepted for surgery.  I had to prove that I had tried to lose weight on my own, I had a psych evaluation, attended a mandatory information session and group meeting with post-op patients, had about 8 vials of blood taken and tested for various things, an ECG and a meeting with a nutritionist.  I am scheduled to go in for a meeting with the anesthetist three weeks before my operation and I know others who were sent for sleep studies (thankfully I did not need one as I do not snore).

I wonder if perhaps there is an unfortunate postcode lottery involved.  I know that many of the people I encounter at the hospital believe that the NHS approval rate and the time it takes to be approved is closely related to geography.

Hopefully my experience is where the future is headed!  (I am very sad to hear about the changes at Reading)

Adrienne

 Yes I can verify all of the post by Adrienne as I had a VSG done on the NHS at Charing Cross and the team were fabulous and we are really lucky as other areas don't put a lot of funding into WLS but as Charing Cross is home to the l UK's first Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC) and the largest trust in the country they put a lot of emphesis on prevention of further health problems for obese patients and you do have to prove you can or have tried to lose weight under your own steam ( I lost 55lbs by going to weigh****chers) and I did have a sleep study done with which it was also discovered I had sleep apnoea which resulted in me having a BiPap Machine ( also on the NHS)  

It sounds like you had wonderful care!! I really think these programs are coming a long way and that NHS will certainly in time have to REALLY consider all the PROs in WLS.

We all know-those of us who have been so very ill with our obesity, that this will SAVE NHS so much money!!

Cheers,
T

Do consider yourself lucky - I was on the wrong side of the postcode lottery - I'm in Northants. I finally got a referral from my doctor to the NHS, but with a bmi of 47.3 and morbidly obese they told me they don't cover it in Northants. However I do wonder if my bmi had been over 50 and putting me into the bracket of super morbidly obese if I would have been considered, otherwise why send me for an appointment at all.
In any case, it was nearly 2 years later that I decided further diets just weren't going to shed all that weight, so I self funded, maybe I should have tried NHS again as my bmi was up to 50.4, but it never really occurred to me. However self funding - apart from the money!!! - was a joy, the waiting was pretty non-existent, from the time I had my money in place I could've had the surgery as little as 10 days later. There was a very basic check-up and nothing else and it was all really very easy. But like Kate said, I am safe and secure in the knowledge that the NHS is there for me for the future - and that makes me feel very lucky too.