The Western Australian Department of Health (DoH) has recently changed the criteria for suitability for Bariatric surgery for Public patients. These are as listed below. All public patients have to satisfy the criteria to be eligible for surgery as a public patient.
| Parameter |
Criteria |
| Age |
- Age between 16-55 years.
- Pregnancy not anticipated in the first two years post op.
|
| Body Weight |
- BMI>= 40, or
- BMI>= 35 with associated obesity illnesses such as Type 2 Diabetes with Sleep Apnoea.
- Pubertal development ≥ Stage 4.
|
| Resistant Obesity |
- Failed weight loss techniques including dietary exercise and behaviour modification program supervised with the bariatric programme.
|
| Morbidity |
- Obesity related morbidity as follows: Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnoea, degenerative major weight bearing joint disease (and can be candidate for joint replacement) etc.
- Free of organ damage.
- Absence of other medical conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis that would increase the morbidity or mortality risk of bariatric surgery.
- Comprehensively assessed as fit for surgery by a medical practitioner with a special interest in obesity, (with access to a specialist general physician or endocrinologist when indicated), aneasthetic and bariatric surgeon.
|
| Psychological Profile |
- Undergone comprehensive psychosocial evaluation, and free of psychiatric issues, treatment or drug dependency problems.
- Proven to be able to comply with and adhere to the behavioural changes required after surgery.
- Capacity to understand the associated risks and commitment.
- Well-informed, motivated and with acceptable operative risks.
|
| If patients cannot achieve some significant short term weight loss by conservative measures (12 months), then they will probably not be able to comply with the post operative advice to achieve real long term benefit from the surgery. |
| - Adapted from the NSW Obesity Management Plan Assessment Criteria (2009, P.51) |
If you satisfy the above criteria, your suitability for surgery will be determined after a comprehensive evaluation by all members of the multidisciplinary team. This involves consultations with a Bariatric GP, Psychologist, Dietician, Anaesthetist and the Surgeon. A decision will be made by the Surgeon, taking into account all of the information gained by the evaluation process. The type of surgery will also be discussed and decided during this process and will usually take the form of either a laparoscopic gastric band or laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy. |