Can i get gastric band on nhs

This restricts the amount of food that can be eaten and results in you feeling full sooner than normal when eating. It can also moderate the appetite and stimulate metabolism to cause substantial and sustained weight loss. There's usually more weight loss after a gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy than after a gastric band. Most people with a gastric band lose around half their excess body weight, whereas most people with a gastric bypass or sleeve gastrectomy lose around two-thirds of their excess body weight.

However, because it's more technically demanding, a gastric bypass carries a higher risk of complications, including death. Read about the risks of weight loss surgery. A gastric band is reversible, so if you find it difficult to cope with the restrictions associated with life after surgery, you can have the band removed. Although if the band is removed any restriction to your appetite is reduced and weight regain may occur.

A gastric bypass or a sleeve gastrectomy, on the other hand, can't be reversed. You'll also be required to take nutritional supplements for the rest of your life if you have a gastric bypass or a sleeve gastrectomy.

A gastric bypass often has a much greater impact on type 2 diabetes, in a shorter time, than either a gastric band or sleeve gastrectomy. A bilo-pancreatic diversion is similar to a gastric bypass, except a much larger section of the small intestine is bypassed, meaning you'll absorb even fewer calories from the food you eat.

Because of this, a bilo-pancreatic diversion is usually only recommended when it's felt that rapid weight loss is required to prevent a serious health condition, such as heart disease, from getting worse. An intra-gastric balloon is a soft silicone balloon that's surgically implanted into your stomach. The balloon is filled with air or saline solution sterile salt water , and so takes up some of the space in your stomach.

This means you don't need to eat as much before you feel full. This procedure is only temporary, and the balloon is usually removed after six months. The procedure is useful if you don't meet the criteria for the other types of surgery — for example, because you're too obese.

An intra-gastric balloon procedure can usually be done without making an incision in your abdomen. Instead, the balloon can be passed through your mouth and down into your stomach using an endoscope a thin, flexible tube that has a light and a camera on one end.

Read more information about a gastroscopy. After weight loss surgery, you will need a few days to recover. It may also be several weeks or months before you can resume normal activities, depending on the type of surgery you have. When you wake after surgery, you will probably have some pain at the site of the surgery. This is normal and should pass within a few days. To reduce the risk of blood clots, you may be given a blood-thinning medication, such as heparin, and compression stockings to wear.

Once you feel well enough, move around as much you can as this will further reduce your risk of blood clots. For the first 24 hours, you will only be allowed to drink a small amount of liquid to prevent vomiting. Gradually, small amounts of solid food will be introduced into your diet. For more information, see Weight loss surgery - recommendations.

Gastric band surgery may be carried out as a day case and most people are well enough to leave hospital within 24 hours of surgery. You can resume normal activities within two to three weeks. Four to six weeks after surgery, your stomach should have healed enough that your band can be adjusted by inflating it with saline sterile salt water. This is done by inserting a needle via the access point through which the saline is pumped. The band will then inflate and constrict the upper pouch of your stomach.

The whole process takes around 15 minutes. This is sometimes done after numbing your abdomen with a local anaesthetic , using an X-ray to locate the band. Often, this process of adjustment is a fine balancing act. For example, if the band is too loose you may not lose weight, but if the band is too tight, you may vomit after eating. Therefore, it can take a number of sessions before the ideal adjustment for your band is reached.

Once you wake after surgery, you will probably have a drip in your arm, to provide your body with liquids. Again, you may be given blood-thinning medication and compression stockings to wear to help prevent blood clots. You will only be allowed a liquid diet immediately after surgery, and solids will be slowly introduced into your diet. Most people are well enough to leave hospital one to four days after surgery and resume normal activities within four to six weeks. You'll also only be allowed a liquid diet immediately after these types of surgery, and solids will be slowly introduced into your diet.

The rapid weight loss associated with weight loss surgery can cause a number of side effects and has a number of risks.

These are outlined below. While weight loss surgery can successfully remove the fat in the body, it cannot cause skin to revert to its pre-obesity tightness and firmness. Therefore, if you were obese, especially for many years, you may be left with excess folds and rolls of skin, particularly around the breasts, tummy, hips and limbs.

These folds and rolls normally become most apparent months after surgery. Many people who have lost a significant amount of weight feel that the excess skin is unsightly and can be difficult to keep clean. Cosmetic surgery can be used to remove the excess skin. However, as this treatment is for cosmetic and not clinical reasons, it is not available on the NHS. Previously obese patients who have achieved significant weight loss and have maintained their weight loss for at least two years.

For more information, see the topic on Cosmetic surgery. Around 1 in 12 people will develop gallstones after weight loss surgery, typically 10 months after surgery.

Gallstones are small stones, usually made of cholesterol, that form in the gallbladder. In most cases, gallstones do not cause any symptoms. However, if they become trapped in a duct an opening or channel , they can irritate and inflame the gallbladder and cause symptoms, such as:.

While most people who undergo weight loss surgery report an improvement in their quality of life, several psychosocial effects may be related to rapid weight loss. Some people have reported relationship problems with their partner as their partner begins to feel nervous, anxious or possibly jealous about their weight loss. Social occasions that revolve around food, such as family meals, can become awkward, as it's common to feel self-conscious about your reduced capacity to eat.

It's also common for a person to experience a worsening of mood when their weight stabilises, typically two years after surgery. Is it that little effort is required by you, that is not true, a considerable input and very restrictive dieting is required both before and following the treatment, the social effects you will experience maybe for life.

You deserve to know all the options that are open to you, you need to understand why over 1, people have travelled around the world to complete the GMB permanent weight loss treatment.

Visit the pages on this site, read the verified case studies, watch the TV interviews. Read the hundreds of independent Newspaper and Magazine reviews, including the Times, and Marie Claire, and how you can complete the course either at the clinic or by Skype in your own home, you can have a free Skype chat with one of the Clinical Directors, maybe today, you have nothing to lose other than those unwanted pounds or kilos.

So, how can you find out? Well, you could go to the NHS website, but to make it easier for you, the NHS criteria for a gastric band are listed here below, so you can answer your question straight away. The NHS criteria for a gastric band can be quite strict, and sometimes overweight people have resorted to deliberately gaining weight in a desperate attempt to get their BMI high enough to qualify for the surgery.

If you can afford it, you have the option to have private gastric band surgery. It is easier to meet the lower criteria required by private surgeons, and there is no need to be referred by your GP.

If you are seriously thinking about whether you are eligible for a gastric band to help you lose weight, then you need to be aware that this is a life-changing, risky and invasive procedure, which can lead to complications and also cause some quite unpleasant gastric band side-effects.

Weight loss surgery is available on the NHS for people who meet certain criteria, although the criteria can vary across England. If your BMI is 50 or over, surgery may be considered without needing to try other weight loss methods first. The information above is taken from the NHS website.

There are numerous weight loss methods available now, using very clever evidence-based, psychological approaches, based around the new findings related to Neuo Plasticity to help overweight people overcome their eating issues Permanently and re-think their whole relationship with food. Gastric Mind Band Therapy helps people set off on a new path as they start on their weight loss journey.

Plus it is a fraction of the cost. Ask yourself, just why have over a thousand people flown around the world to visit a British run clinic based in Malaga Spain, it never advertises as virtually every new client is a referral from a past satisfied individual. Gastric Bypass has fewer ongoing costs involved compared with the Gastric Band, so this procedure is less of a drain on NHS resources, do be aware that it is completely non reversible. Gastric Band patients require regular follow up appointments for adjustments to the band, which costs the NHS more in both time and money.

Sometimes people opt for having a gastric band abroad, as many countries offer the surgery for less cost than in the UK. There will be a deadline for any submissions to be considered by a panel so check that date and ensure that everything you wish to be taken into account is submitted in plenty of time. If you wish to be informed directly about the Panel's decision this needs to be documented on your PCT file. You may wish to ring the contact person at the PCT the day after the Panel has convened and ask for the outcome.

It is unlikely you will be given this by phone but ask when the letter will be sent out to you and your GP. Once you receive your letter with the outcome it can go two ways. If you have been successful in securing funding your GP will refer you to the local bariatric team for assessment. If you have been refused funding you will need to lodge an appeal. In order to do so you will need to know the grounds under which you were denied funding and it is vital that you have a written copy of the appeals policy and adhere to the timescales.

It is natural to feel discouraged at this stage but many members have had positive outcomes from an appeal. If you consider that the process has not been followed to the detriment of your outcome you may choose to involve additional support at this stage. Your appeal could be based on the following: The panel did not have all the information they needed to make an informed decision. The panel did not follow their own procedures The criteria does not equate to the NICE criteria and is thus inequitable Access to weight loss surgery is subject to a postcode lottery.

It is critical that from the beginning of this whole process you keep a detailed file on your request for weight loss surgery and that you keep copies of all correspondence, including emails in this. It is helpful to document any phone calls you have noting the person's name and position and details of the conversation. This is helpful when you involve someone else in your case. A rule of thumb is to be polite at all times in both phone and written contact with anyone from the PCT.

It does not help your case to be rude. You need to reconsider how closely you meet the NICE guidelines. If you are outside of these your case will be very hard indeed to win and you may at that stage want to consider alternatives. If you firmly meet all of the NICE guidelines it is important for you to appeal. Not everyone is confident about representing themselves at an appeal level although it is unlikely that you would be asked to attend in person.

If you believe that the decision making process about your case has been deeply flawed you could consult a solicitor about the possibility of asking for a Judicial Review. This is where a judge is appointed to look at the case and make judgment about whether the PCT's decision stands up to scrutiny.

This is a last resort but if you are determined to see justice win the day you may decide to pursue it. Many appeals have a successful outcome but sadly some don't.