Bariatric – Gastric bypass and Gastric sleeve

Before Surgery

Before your surgery, you will be seen by the obesity nurses in clinic, depending on the surgery you are having. Alternatively, you will be given an information pack to read at home. The information pack will provide you with:

A booklet explaining your impending surgery and what to expect
Information on the importance of playing an active role in your own recovery with the support of healthcare professionals
Information on fitness for your surgery including diet, smoking, cessation, alcohol reduction, infections, exercise and more
Practical information to help your recovery including planning for going home before you come in

Useful Patient Information Leaflets

These leaflets will be made available soon.

Information videos

Enhanced Recovery is a modern, evidence based approach that can help people to recover more quickly after surgery.

In the sections below, you will find a selection of videos which aim to ensure you know what to expect and are prepared for your surgery. This will help to enable you to make a speedy recovery and safely return to the activities you enjoy. It is essential that you play an active role in your care, to achieve the best possible outcome after your operation.

We strongly encourage you to view these videos in plenty of time before your surgery. You can view each video as many times as necessary and if you need clarification or have questions for which you are unable to find the answers, please do not hesitate to ask anybody in the ERAS team.

After surgery

“You are the most important person in your own recovery!”

Following your surgery please start working with your ERAS information pack. The Enhanced Recovery booklet, information sheet and goal chart are particularly useful to enable you to guide your own progress as well as to prompt you. Start working with your goal chart as soon as you return to the ward – please ask a member of staff to help get this out of your bag.

Now that the surgery is done, here are some key things to remember:

Nausea is expected and extremely common after bariatric surgery. You will be given medication to help with this and it will settle after few days. If you cannot drink due to vomiting then ask your nurse for some anti-sickness medication.
Walking is really important! Walking helps to reduce the risk of Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT), chest infections, helps your bowel to start working and generally makes you feel better and more like yourself. You should avoid lying in bed for extended periods of time.
Get dressed in your normal everyday clothing from the day after your surgery. This is shown to help motivate and improve overall wellbeing, and prevents PJ Paralysis. Remember to bring a set of clothes into hospital with you, we like to avoid hospital gowns where possible.
Drinking well will aid your recovery. You should start by drinking approximately 30mls of water every 10 – 15mins. Once you have managed this, you can start to increase the amount you drink and can progress to squash, tea, coffee etc.
Pain delays the healing process! We do what we can to ensure your pain is well-managed after your surgery. If you are unable to do things such as cough, inhale deeply and walk because of discomfort and pain, you will be at a higher risk of developing post-operative complications like DVT, chest infection and sluggish bowel, amongst other things. Please let somebody know if your pain is preventing you from doing any of the things mentioned previously, as your nurse may be able to provide you with additional pain relief.

Your discharge

When can you go home?

Once the following discharge criteria is achieved, you can be discharged home:

Surgically fit i.e. your blood pressure, heart rate and temperature are within normal range for you and have passed urine.
Drinking around 1.5 litres over 24 hour period.
Your pain is reasonably well controlled on the pain relieving medication you are on in hospital.
Mobilising independently (with aids if baseline).
The criteria is listed on the back of your ERAS goal chart. Please tick each item off the list as you achieve the criteria, to allow you to monitor your progress.

You will be given medications to take home and a discharge letter. Please make sure you understand how and when to take the medications given to you and any follow up arrangements for wound-care and appointments you will need to attend.

You may be discharged on a course of blood thinning injections, this is to help prevent blood clots following your surgery and the surgeon will decide if you need these depending on your individual risk factors. A nurse will demonstrate to you how to self-administer these when you go home.

After discharge contact numbers

Obesity hotline numbers – 01582 497421 / 01582497420 / 01582497166

If however you do not get a response within 10mins please call your GP or attend the Emergency Department.

It might be a good idea to put this on your fridge or numbers in your phone should you need them in a hurry

Now you have these numbers hopefully you won’t need them and you have an uneventful recovery.