The very poor gastric band portrayal on BBC Holby City

[fbscpa]

I had Mr Halstead and had a 10 ml band. He said he would decide what size band to place when doing the op - so I assume it does have something to do with stomach size?

 

[top_kat]

going back to what the thread was about in terms of the programme, I had an email today from the BBC lol

Dear Miss ****

Reference CAS-2578143-PQM83T

Thanks for contacting us regarding BBC One’s ‘Holby City’ on 18 February.

Please accept our apologies for the delay in replying. We know our correspondents appreciate a quick response and are sorry you've had to wait on this occasion.

We understand you were unhappy with the storyline involving the character who had a gastric band and we raised your concerns with the production team.

This storyline ran over 2 episodes and we made sure the consequences of Harry’s actions were fully explored, making it clear that the lying, rule breaking and concealment had disastrous consequences. We were clear to also show that by breaking the rules the patient had to have her gastric band removed and we were clear to show that Harry shouldn’t have tampered with the band, or indeed lied for the patient in the first place.

We don’t always rely on best practice when it comes to our storytelling and nothing about what happened in these episodes was meant to be taken as the norm within a situation like this. The patient Annie was clearly unprepared for her operation and if she was being treated by anyone else other than Harry this would have been picked up on. Annie’s lapse into over eating was a symptom of the emotional distress caused by his mismanagement. We concluded the story with a speech expressing her point of view, dignity and struggle with food issues. We don’t agree that viewers would look upon Annie as the wrong doer in this story- that was clearly Dr Harry Tressler.

We hope this information is helpful and would also like to assure you that we've registered your comments on our audience log. This is the internal report of audience feedback we compile daily for programme makers and senior management within the BBC. The audience logs are important documents that can help shape decisions about future programming and content and ensures that your points, and all other comments we receive, are made available to BBC staff across the Corporation.

Thanks again for contacting us.

Kind Regards

Stuart Webb

BBC Complaints

Shame they missed the point, we didn't say when we wrote to them that the woman was the wrong doer, only that it wasn't correct in the method of treatment but more so, they way they depicted her just goes to generate such a typical stereotype of people who have weight issues or have surgery.

But they missed that point completely....

 

[bichonbabies]

What a crap response!! A load of old waffle and clearly not answering any questions at all!!
And the consequences of Harrys actions were not made clear or followed up at all..
Are you planning on responding to Stuart Webb and suggesting he reads your letter and the points that you were making?