So, you've made the decision to have weight loss surgery, what's next? We've put together some steps to consider what you need from a surgical service.
Step 1: How do I know if the service is a quality weight loss surgery provider?
Step 2: What kind of support do I need before and after surgery?
Step 3: What type of appointment do I want for my aftercare?
Step 4: What kind of service would suit my individual needs?
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How do I know if the service is a quality weight loss surgery provider? |
There are many different surgical providers in the UK and abroad so it can be difficult to know how to decide between them. The National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) provides guidelines for all medical and surgical practice in the UK. They have highlighted that a comprehensive assessment prior to weight loss (bariatric) surgery is key. This needs to include an assessment of:
The British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society (BOMSS) also has guidance which supports this. You can find more information here. |
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Do I want short, focused aftercare to get me started after surgery? |
YES Look for shorter-term follow-up but which, as a minimum, includes:
This option may not be clinically suitable for you if you have medical or mental health conditions. |
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Do I want support during the time I am losing my weight after surgery? |
YES Look for a longer aftercare package to cover at least the first crucial 12 months, where the majority of change occurs after surgery. Ensure the aftercare package meets the minimum aftercare requirements listed in the box above. Ensure that you have the option of adding additional support from other health professionals, for example a psychologist if you need to. |
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Do I want more time to both support me with my weight loss and to help with focusing on long term success with my surgery? |
YES Most of your weight will be lost within the first 12 months. After that time, you will need to work on the habits required for weight maintenance. Sometimes this might be the first experience of long-term weight stabilisation and so it can raise some challenges. A more personalised aftercare package can provide you with flexibility. Watch out for the very long aftercare packages that have only minimal contact because these will be less responsive to addressing concerns you may have at the time you need support. |
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Am I planning to use a medical loan? |
YES Consider choosing a more personalised package to include your aftercare upfront. This avoids having to additionally fund additional support needs after surgery. |
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What type of appointment do I want for my aftercare? |
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| Is the provider flexible about how aftercare is provided? |
Think about how the aftercare suits your needs based on location, your time availability and your preferred communication style. Not all providers describe the support offered, so this is an important question to think about before deciding which service to go for. |
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Do I have physical health conditions that may be affected by surgery? |
YES I need to ensure I have a service that includes a comprehensive, multidisciplinary team assessment before surgery. |
| Do I struggle with my mental health at the moment, or from time to time? |
YES I need access to a specialist psychologist for assessment before my surgery and for support after surgery. |
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Do I have access to weight loss specialists elsewhere? |
NO I need to ensure that I choose a service that includes experts in weight loss surgery both before and after surgery. |
At Verve Health Group we provide a gold standard specialist service ensuring that we support you both before and after surgery.
We recognise that you want to have flexibility to consider the type of aftercare that best suits your needs so we have developed 3 levels of support:
Focus
This package supports you intensively for 6 months and is ideally suited for people who don’t have any additional medical or psychological needs. It gives you a boost to begin your life after surgery. All the essential elements of care are included: access to a surgeon and dietitian, regular informative email support from the clinical team over the 6 months and nutritional monitoring in the form of blood tests and dietitian review.
Classic
The Classic package gives you 12 months of support with a dedicated dietitian and surgeon review either in a virtual or a face-to-face appointment. You choose. This option will provide support over the first 12 months when all of your weight loss change will occur, along with your nutritional blood tests and dietitian monitoring of the test results. The regular informative emails will be timed to focus on the support you need at the time you need it and comes from our experience of working with thousands of patients after weight loss surgery.
Personalised
Adjustment after surgery takes a long time because you will be learning to adjust to not only changes in your body but also to your food preference, social situations, and the way you make time to prioritise your needs after surgery. Weight loss surgery also has an impact on how you feel about yourself, with improving confidence and pushing yourself to do things that previously you were unable. Having support to navigate these can make a huge difference.
Our Personalised package gives you the support you need for 18 months to allow not only for weight loss, but also to build your confidence with weight maintenance. You will have reviews with your surgeon, a dedicated dietitian with nutritional blood tests and monitoring of the results to cover you for 18 months.
We know that our patients have a range of other health concerns that they want to make sure are considered so our Personalised package gives you access to a clinical psychologist and endocrinologist depending on your clinical needs.
Our regular and informative emails from the clinical team will take you beyond the basic recovery period, flagging all of the issues that we know can occur at the different stages of your recovery.
Our Personalised package gives you time to embed the habit changes needed to make your surgery a success for your lifetime.
We'd love to help you with your surgery. If you would like to find out more you can book a call with a member of our client support team or you can send us a message via the contact form.
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