referred for wls sunderland

[rachaelh]

thanks angela, i'll keep you all posted as i find anything out

rachael

 

[j.u.s.t.l.i.z.]

well here i am, 11 months on from my first choose and book letter to make my appointment and this is where i'm up to, had my first meeting with mr small's registrar on feb 8th 2010 and was told to lose a half a stone ready for my next clinic appointment in 6 months time (already lost nearly a stone and a half woop wooop!!) and as long as i did i'd be suitable for gastric bypass, then received a letter to tell me my next appointment would be late august, then another a few days later telling me it had been cancelled and i was to attend on 7th june instead, now this morning i have received a letter telling me to go for my pre op assessment on 21st april and i'm wondering whats going on is it normal for this pre op check to be so early on especially when my next appointment in clinic is for june so i don't have a surgery date yet? part of the reason i'm a bit confused is at the moment i'm breastfeeding (oh yep, i had a baby since this magical mystery tour all began) and i told the registrar that i wanted to carry on for as long as i could which is why he saiid not to worry as i wouldn't hear anything until at least august and as i had baby in jan that should be plenty time to finish the 6 months of breastfeeding i was hoping to do.. now my question is if i do end up getting offered anything earlier than june 19th when baby will be exactly 6 months old i'm in a bit of a pickle, as on one hand i want this op as soon as humanly possible, but on the other hand i don't want to short change the baby of the goodness she'd get from the milk ... long and short of it is what do we think the chances are that i'll be offered a date before june 19th in light of the pre op appointment?

thanks to all and sorry for the long winded post!!!!

hi rachael firsly congratulations on the birth of your baby, i do understand your dilema, when you have had the pre op assesment the op dates are usually with in a week or 2 from that point as its to asses your fitness for surgery as soon as it can be done to the op, i suggest you ring up and explain your dilema to mr smalls secretary that deals with appointments if you delay i dont know how far they may put you back in the process as they are working hard to get the waiting list down. Good luck and let me know how you get on, our next support group is april 29th at the hospital at 6pm if you want to pop in for a coffee and a chat x

 

[rachaelh]

after talking to hubby and doing some research i've decided to go on weds, it is possible to combine breast and bottle feeding and can do this straight after any type of surgery but feeds will have to be mostly formula to make sure little u doesnt miss out on nutrients she needs, so i'm going to see health visitor next week to go through my feeding options and in the mean time freeze as much of my milk as i can so i have some extra for her! will keep you all posted as and when i find anything out after this pre admission assessment on weds

thanks for the replies!

 

[J-Mo]

GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[tiarasandtantrums]

Good luck with your appointment hun xx

 

[Lesley110]

Blimey Racheal it sounds like a pick n mix with your appointments! Good luck tomorrow I know that I had my pre-op assessment on the Monday and had the surgery on the Friday! Perhaps they have forgotton to tell you something?

 

[rachaelh]

i'm just going to go with the flow lesley, if i start over thinking things i'll either panic or set myself up for failure! but only one more day to go so time will tell i guess!

 

[MrsSAFC]

I rang appointments every day until some more were released - it took 7 days to get the appointment - this was in jan - 1st group session / appointment was in feb and now im waiting for 2nd appointment

 

[christine77]

the time scale is a killer i had my group session in Nov 09 , had my first appointment April 12th and next appointment is not until Dec 20th , i have rang several times to say this surely cant be right only to be told yes it is and theres no such thing as getting a cancellation appointment as every appointment is double even treble booked and therefore in the words of the appointment women - they clap there hands if someone cancels , they dont stupidly give it to someone else.- nice or what

i chased this week to see whats happening with my appointment to get the camera down only to be told theres a huge back log on that to and to stop ringing they would be in touch . i was so excited about my wls but the time scale is doing my head in especially if i am gonna have to join another list in December and wait another 18 weeks for the operation after that!!!! it will then be 2 years and 3 month since i was first referred.

sorry to rant on just fed up too

 

[MrsSAFC]

seriously its so depressing having to wait , i know it will be worth it i suppose - when i went for the group session in feb mr small told me in may loads of appointments will be coming as they have been given an extra clinic and extra surgery space. I also have the same consultant as you i think as after the group session i got a letter stating about the wait from mr balupuri.... think i want mer small tho?? havnet heard too much about the other one! - not that im ungrateful!!!! im with you on this one chris!!!

 

[j.u.s.t.l.i.z.]

seriously its so depressing having to wait , i know it will be worth it i suppose - when i went for the group session in feb mr small told me in may loads of appointments will be coming as they have been given an extra clinic and extra surgery space. I also have the same consultant as you i think as after the group session i got a letter stating about the wait from mr balupuri.... think i want mer small tho?? havnet heard too much about the other one! - not that im ungrateful!!!! im with you on this one chris!!!

its unfortunate about the long wait we have at Sunderland but its because theres so many patients wanting wls in our area and it takes time to get through them, from seminar to surgery is 14-18 months, it is a long time yes but its very much worth the wait, both surgeons are fantastic and ive personally had surgery with both Mr Balupuri is a geat surgeon too, hang in there your turn will come x

 

[Twiggie]

I know the earlier posts in this thread are from a year ago but for anyone new reading this thread who is having problems getting referred I hope this information might be of some use.

My PCT's primary choice of hospital for WLS is the Luton & Dunstable but at the time of my referral they had closed their books to new patients. I was also going through the Choose & Book service so went back to the appt co-ordinator at my GP surgery and basically asked her to contact each and every hospital performing WLS within easy access for me until she found one taking on patients :8855:

This is how I ended up at the Whittington. The only thing I didn't do was to check with my PCT that they would actually agree to fund my surgery at the Whittington (I was naive to the process at this stage)

It almost caused catastrophe when, having gone through all the necessary tests and was ready to go on the list for surgery, I was refused funding and told I might have to start all over again at the L&D

Out of desperation I contacted the person holding the purse strings at the EOESCT and, fortunately for me, she overturned the PCT's decision, granting me funding there & then on the phone. She said the overriding factor was each PCT usually has a list of designated hospitals they can use if, for whatever reason, a patient cannot be referred to their primary one. The Whittington just happened to be one of those on my PCT's list

So, the short version is if you're struggling to get referred there are other options to explore, it's just knowing who to approach and how to go about it. Hope this can be of help to someone x

 

[BugsBunny]

Hope it all turns out as you want it too.Rob

 

[MrsSAFC]

I was considering contacting Mr Balupuri secretary but do not know her/his name? Do the consultants attend the support meetings does anyone know? I have met and spoken to Mr Small who seems to be a nice man.

 

[j.u.s.t.l.i.z.]

I was considering contacting Mr Balupuri secretary but do not know her/his name? Do the consultants attend the support meetings does anyone know? I have met and spoken to Mr Small who seems to be a nice man.

ring the main switchboard on 01915656256 and just ask them to be put through to his secrataery, i think she will just say you have to wait your turn to next appointment as theres so many people to get through, i mainly organise the support group and its patient led, the surgeons do not attend these meetings unless i ask them to do so as a guest speaker, both surgeons are very nice people, our next meeting is thursday 27th may if you wish to attend you will be very welcome x

 

[MrsSAFC]

Hi
Thanks justliz
i cannot attend this one but will definately like to attend the next one, and would like to attend one or more before my actually appointment.

 

[j.u.s.t.l.i.z.]

Hi
Thanks justliz
i cannot attend this one but will definately like to attend the next one, and would like to attend one or more before my actually appointment.

ok if you cant make this months the next are...

June 24th

July 29th

August 26th

i hope you can make it x

 

[MrsSAFC]

hi,

Thanks the 24th June one should be fine with me as i have time to change other commitments. im the mean time ill be on here looking about ;-)

 

[LET.ME.OUT.OF.THIS.BODY]

Hi Rachael, it too have just been referred by my GP three weeks ago and was told by the receptionist in the surgery that choose and book was not possible and that i would recieve something in the post in the next week or two but three weeks on i have heard nothing o called my GP surgery who told me to ring Mr Smalls secretary. more than anything i just want to knoe that my referal has gone through. seems we are in the same boat hun x

 

[LET.ME.OUT.OF.THIS.BODY]

Hi Rach - after reading your post last night i got back on the phone to my GP this morning as i was concerned that i was sitting around waiting for an appointment to land on my mat when infact i should be calling somewhere to choose and book but no sooner had i got of the phone from the GP's reception with the advise to contact Mr Smalls GP and the post landed on the mat and i have an appointment letter to attend a GROUP SEMINAR on 20th October at SRH. dont know if this is any help to you. i saw my GP on Wednesday 21st July and was referred that day. hope you get an appointment soon hun. good luck x