If you looking at having Gastric lap band surgery in the UK and you have the ability to fund the surgery yourself, you may want to contact a surgeon to arrange to have it done privately. The cost for having a private gastric band surgery in the UK will generally ranges from 4,000 – 8,000.
If your surgery is complicated you may be asked to go private on the NHS as NHS hospitals have more specialist care for your surgery.
Before you embark on your gastric surgery you may want ask your private surgeon these questions?
Does the surgery cover pre-operation items such as blood tests, Surgeon, physician and dietician fees?
Are all hospital costs and operation costs included? Fees for surgeon and anaesthetist? What happens if there’s complications and you need to stay in hospital or need more specialised care?
Do the fees cover after care treatment? How many fills are included? Does it include blood tests for RNY/BPD/DS patients? What if you need additional care?
Don’t be afraid to ask questions regarding your private surgery for gastric banding and what it entails. Many gastric band surgery packages will offer two band fills which normally is not enough.
As many patients require several more adjustments over the next two years after the surgery to reach their weight loss goals. If possible get a package with slightly more of surgeon appointments and dieticians follow-up after surgery than to be faced with the dilemma of not doing as well as you had hoped and having to find the money for additional appointments.
Most UK insurance companies will not payout for gastric surgery even though it’s a chronic condition. Treating the condition will likely have a reduced payout for the insurance companies over the subsequent years.
Some patients have looked aboard for there treatment, France and Belgium have become popular destinations as the basic cost of the surgery is much lower than in the UK. Disadvantages would be the follow up care what you will have in the UK. Several surgeons will refuse to treat a patient in the UK if they had their surgery abroad.
Whichever route you choose to follow for your surgery, the most important aspect is the follow up care and typically that provided at specialist UK obesity surgery centres will undoubtedly be the best. Multidisciplinary teams of doctors will ensure that the correct attention is given to all aspects of follow up such as weight loss progress, diet, exercise and social aspects, as well as the correct functioning of the alterations made to your anatomy by the surgery. This quality of care should not be compromised by your seeking treatment privately.
