Oakside Surgery

04/11/2025

Privately funded bariatric surgery:

Information for people considering privately funded
bariatric surgery

Bariatric surgery is a treatment option for people who are severely overweight.

In the UK, the three most common types of surgery are:
1. A gastric band
2. A sleeve gastrectomy
3. A gastric bypass

Bariatric surgery is available on the NHS; however, some people choose to have the surgery privately, either in the UK or overseas by self-funding the procedure.

The British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society recommend that you have a consultation with a UK surgeon first, which you may need to self-funded, to discuss whether surgery is appropriate, and which option will be best for you.

To help guide you towards choosing the right private service, the information below outlines what care should be provided as a minimum.

Before your surgery

Assessments

The service should undertake several assessments before you have your bariatric surgery. These assessments include:

• A review of your diet history to identify nutrition related problems.

• A physical examination.

• Blood tests to look at nutritional deficiencies, diabetes, cholesterol, and your kidney function. If your blood test results identify issues, these will need to be dealt with before you have surgery.

These assessments should be undertaken by expert healthcare professionals in bariatric care.

Nutritional supplements

Your chosen service may also advise you follow a low calorie / low carbohydrate diet before your surgery to reduce the size of your liver. Low calorie / low carbohydrate diets may not provide all the nutrients you need so you may need to take a multivitamin and mineral supplement.

Your chosen service should advise whether you need to take a nutritional supplement, the type of supplement to take and the amount.

You should buy any recommended vitamin and mineral supplements yourself.

Mental and emotional support

Mental and emotional support (also known as psychological support) is usually needed by people before and after surgery. This support may be provided as part of a group or on a one-to-one basis.

Your chosen service should talk about this support and discuss what will work best for you.

After your surgery

People who have bariatric surgery should have follow up care for the rest of their life to ensure their nutritional needs are being met. If your follow up care is poorthere is a potential serious risk of not being nourished enough.

NHS funded bariatric surgery follow up care is not provided for the first two years if you chose to self-fund your surgery. To be entitled to NHS funded bariatric surgery follow up care you must have completed an NHS Specialist Weight Management Programme and met their requirements for referral for bariatric surgery.

For the first two years after surgery

For the first two years after surgery your follow up care should be provided by the private service who has performed your surgery.

In some cases, this follow up may only be an email or telephone call. If you are considering private surgery, please think about how this type of follow up will support you if you experience complications.

Your follow up should include monitoring of your nutritional needs.

For this you will need blood tests, and it is your responsibility to arrange and pay for these blood tests privately and to check you are on the correct supplements.

Two years after your surgery

After the first two years your nutrition needs will still need to be reviewed at least once a year. This review may be undertaken by your GP, a discharge letter from your private bariatric service will help with this. Please ask the service to provide this for you.

Summary

The above care both before and after your bariatric surgery should be provided by your chosen service as a minimum. If they do not offer this, please reconsider who you choose to provide your surgery.

You should also be made aware that you can expect excess skin after your bariatric surgery. Removal of this is not routinely funded on the NHS, unless you are experiencing significant, recurrent medical issues.

Useful resources

Further useful information can be found at the British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society via www.bomss.org.

23/10/2025

Your Practice Charter

Dear Patient,

GPs and their practice teams provide the vast majority of NHS care outside of hospitals, supporting you and your family throughout your lives. In a perfect world, we want to be able to offer every patient:

Safety – prompt access to a GP or practice nurse you trust, with well-staffed surgeries and enough resource so that no patient feels left behind.

Stability – a family doctor who knows you, your medical history, and your community – without the stress and difficulty of finding it difficult to get an appointment.

Hope for the future – care that focuses on keeping you well, not just treating illness.

We want more time for meaningful consultations, joined-up support closer to your home, from modern GP surgery premises with safe and effective technology to make this possible.

The government talks of “bringing back the family doctor” but what politicians promise is often not planned properly or funded fairly to be able to be delivered in reality.

We aim to respond to all appointment and advice requests promptly, prioritising those most in need. Sometimes we may need to offer you an appointment on another day or direct you to another suitable service.

For safety reasons, urgent medical requests cannot be accepted via our online system. For something urgent, pick up the phone or walk in to our reception.

The need to prioritise urgent cases to keep patients safe can result in longer waiting times for routine/non-urgent appointments.

The new requirement to allow patients unlimited online access for non- urgent medical requests, throughout core hours, makes it more likely that we will have no choice but to create hospital-style waiting lists to meet patient need.

We want to guide you through the NHS, co-ordinate your care, and support you to stay healthy. We want every patient to feel safe and confident in their GP practice – now and in the future.

GPs are on your side.

The Challenges Your Practice Faces

Rising demand, fewer GPs – GPs care for 17% more patients than in 2015, but with fewer GPs. Funding has not kept pace, so many patients find it hard to see their GP quickly, leading to the stressful scramble to secure an appointment.

Practice closures – Around 2,000 practices have been lost since 2010, that’s one in four surgeries, leaving fewer local practices and longer waits or travel for patients.

Funding pressures – Practices receive just 31p per patient per day to provide unlimited consultations with our doctors and nurses, making it hard to employ enough staff and sustain services.

Workforce challenges – More GPs are leaving the NHS than joining. While our staff work tirelessly, system pressures and patient frustration can affect everyone’s morale and wellbeing. We have unemployed GPs now – and practices lack funds to hire them.

Unsafe workloads – Many GPs see far more than the accepted safe limit of patients per day, often working over 60 hours a week. Recent government changes risk making this worse.

Ageing buildings – One in five GP surgeries is now over 75 years old – older than the NHS itself which started in 1948. There is very little investment to provide modern facilities fit for today’s needs.

Access versus continuity – Government policy means speed of an appointment comes before choice. This lack of continuity of care, means patients often don’t get to see a familiar face who knows them well.

Demand management – We always aim to respond to all appointment and advice requests promptly, prioritising those most in need. Sometimes we may need to offer you an appointment on another day or direct you to another suitable service.

For safety reasons, urgent medical requests cannot always be accepted via our online system. For something urgent, pick up the telephone or walk in to our surgery.

The need to prioritise urgent cases to keep patients safe can result in longer waiting times for routine/non-urgent appointments.

The new requirement to allow patients unlimited online access for non-urgent requests, throughout core hours, makes it more likely that we will have no choice but to create hospital style waiting lists to meet demand.

We may unfortunately sometimes face challenges beyond
our control:

– difficulties with accessing services at the local hospitals and long waiting lists
- workforce challenges – not enough GPs to look after you
– the need to provide our teams with compulsory NHS training and education
– unforeseen events
– NHS IT challenges with old and slow equipment
– lack of investment in practice buildings and development
– public health emergencies
– Our core contract hours are Monday – Friday, 8am– 630pm.
– Our consulting times are between these hours.
– Please note at certain times, e.g. lunch or the ends of the day, a clinician
may not be present in the building (e.g. out on home visits).
– In any emergency, please dial 999 for an ambulance or attend the nearest
– Accident & Emergency department.

We believe patients deserve more

– At present, GPs and their teams are under huge pressure – caring for more people
with fewer resources.
– Without proper investment, the safety, stability and continuity of care that patients
value most are at risk.
– As your GP practice, we will always do what we can to deliver the best service possible for you and your family. With the right resources and support, we could expand our services, employ more staff, and deliver the safe, timely, and personalised care you deserve.
– Please remember that our current GP contract funds patient care on average at 31p per day per patient, which is not enough to meet rising demand and to provide the care you and your family deserve.

So please bear with us – and thank you for your support as we try our best for you and your family.

13/10/2025

We are also experiencing similar problems! Please be patient while our provider looks into this for us. Thank you.

06/10/2025

Did you know you can view messages about your care in the NHS App?

The NHS App is a simple and secure way to receive messages from your trusted health care providers.

Turn on notifications for the NHS App to stay up to date.

Find out more:

Download the NHS App, or open the NHS website in a web browser, to set up and log in to your NHS account. Owned and run by the NHS, your NHS account is a simple and secure way to access a range of NHS services online.

25/09/2025

Changes to Windsor House Phlebotomy Service 💉
From 6 October 2025, blood tests will move to an appointment-only system.

Book online quickly and easily via SwiftQueue:
No more long queues or waiting outside
Choose a time that suits you

Receive reminders so you don’t miss your slot

This change is based on your feedback and will help us create a safer, smoother and more comfortable experience for everyone.

Appointments must be booked online via https://www.plymouthhospitals.nhs.uk/phlebotomy/

If you experience any issues booking online, the website also provides contact details for support.

25/09/2025

The Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC) is now open, 8am - 8-pm for patients of any age, with no appointment needed.

Located in the new Dartmoor Building, the UTC can treat the following:
• Limb fractures
• Minor illness
• Sprains and strains
• Minor head injuries
• Minor scalds and burns
• Bites and stings
• Foreign bodies in eyes
• Infected wounds
• Cuts and more…

There are 14 drop-off spaces and 2 disabled spaces, each with a 30-minute limit. For longer stays, please use the multi-storey car park.

Dartmoor building is located at the top of the hospital site, opposite the multi storey, Costa Coffee and Boots chemist. The new UTC will provide treatment in addition to the Cumberland Centre in Devonport and Minor Injury Units in Tavistock and Kingsbridge.

24/09/2025

Taking paracetamol during pregnancy remains safe and there is no evidence it causes autism in children.

Find out more ➡️ https://www.nhs.uk/medicines/paracetamol-for-adults/pregnancy-breastfeeding-and-fertility-while-taking-paracetamol-for-adults/

10/09/2025

Good afternoon, we have had a bank card handed in to reception, if you are missing one please pop in with ID as proof - thank you!

20/08/2025

Influenza invitations

We will shortly be sending out invitations for the flu vaccinations to eligible patients over the next coming weeks, these will be via SMS where you can use the 'self-book' link to book into an appointment of your choice, the reception team will also be calling patients and for those with no contact numbers we will send invitation letters.

Our clinics start from the 1st October for most patients, however children aged 2-3 years old are eligible from the 1st September.

More information about clinic dates will be posted in the coming weeks.

Thank you.