Waiting time?

[Sharonimo]

Is it normal to be impatient for it to keep going? I can hardly think of anything else lately.

My GP said to me quite early on (Jan 2011) when he referred me:

"Just go through the motions, turn up to all the appointments, follow all the steps and instructions, if they ask you to lose any weight do your best to meet their requirements, don't put on any weight between now and the op .....just go through all the motions and you WILL get your operation."

My timeline was:

-- referred Jan 2011
-- first appointment Sept 2011
-- operation April 2012

16 months from referral to op.

Most of us now are *more* than 12 months waiting and the few that get there in less than 12 months are very lucky. Please be patient.

 

[k4rid4]

i think because of more funding for these types of operations that people are getting through the system quiker.. i saw my bariatric team last week and he said it would be done and dusted within 6months. thank god, duno how people manage to wait 2years. saying that it wasnt the first time my gp had referd me for funding.. my doc told me of someone who the week before me had been referred and got his surgery within 3 WEEKS!

 

[charlie_pops]

fingers crossed from begining to end it will be 18months. ive thought of nothing else from the day i asked to be referred last october. time does fly past tho!

 

[Ines4C]

Thanks. 18 months sounds long, but since I already have been in the program for seven months, I hope I won't have long to wait. X

 

[Paul-H]

Hi guys

Don't forget under NHS rules you can asked to be referred to you own choice of hospital, and for something like WLS I would think it most important that not only your surgeon know how to do the surgery safely but also the nursing staff know how to look after you.

So keeping that in mind, any one seeking WLS would be better asking to be referred to the nearest hospital with a specialist Bariatric unit, there are quite a few up and down the country with many within Private hospitals that accept NHS funded patients, in these centres you will get surgeons that have hundreds if not thousands of WL surgery and the nursing staff understand the needs of a WLS patient, and as they do so many they often have a very short waiting list, mine was performed by the Stramline team that works with St Richards NHS Hospital and when I had my bypass at the end of February this year they where working to a 12 week waiting list.

So exercise you rights to chose when you want your surgery and don't put up with a surgeon that does so few procedures that their waiting list runs into years rather than months for a more experienced team.

Paul

 

[Ines4C]

Well they referred me to the hospital near me, which is in Gloucester. They did not ask me for choice. For now, I am very pleased with how it works, the staff is competent And very, very nice. That surgeon, dr. Hewan, has trained in America. I think he is quite competent And the hospital offers a lot of before and after-care. So I am happy with the choice made. We'll see though, how long the waiting list is.