I was told by the diet doctor at the diabetes clinic that I qualified for surgery and she wrote to my doctor to ask him to refer me to the relevant people. After some hassle he referred me on and I had to go along to a meeting with a dietician and also a trainer and I had to do ten weeks of going to the gym for an hour twice a week and to weekly group meetings with the dietician. If he agreed at the end of the ten weeks that I had done my part and had no real luck then he would refer me to the bariatric dietican. So, I did the ten weeks and he agreed that I should be passed on. So off I go to the bariatric dietican a little time later and she informs me that I have to be 'in the system' for twelve months before she could refer me on to the surgeon, the ten weeks with the other team counted in as that time so I had the rest of the months to see her and the psychologist (saw her twice and the second time was purely to fill in forms). September made it the twelve months and then she referred me on and about two weeks later I had my funding confirmed and a not very long after I got my appointment from the Spire with my appointment from the surgeon. I got to my appointment with the surgeon where he agreed to do my bypass and told me that he thought that he had a slot free sixteen days later but couldnt confirm it until the day after. One long night later, where I convinced myself that he must be wrong, I got the call to say we have emailed your pre-op diet sheets, come in on such-a-day for your pre-op and then that sixteen days later I had my bypass.
Miracles obviously do happen from time to time, though I know the latter part of my journey is a rare story for an NHS patient.
So, lonnnnnnnnnnng story short, yes, I had to do twelve months in a dietician clinic before they even considered applying for funding but all areas are different.
Anyway, I hope you didnt mind me sharing my story xx
Steph xx
