Operation hope setback for 32 stone Crossways man

11:10am Tuesday 24th November 2009

By Laura Kitching

DEVASTATED 32-stone grandfather Gavin Solly has seen his hopes for an operation to end his obesity nightmare ‘snatched away.’ NHS Dorset Primary Care Trust has refused to provide funding to a private hospital company, which had offered to look at carrying out a £10,950 gastric bypass.

Mr Solly, 50, of Yalbury Lane, Crossways, had pleaded for the Trust to transfer the money to the Bromsgrove-based Hospital Group to carry out the weight-loss surgery.

But now he has been told that he must be treated at the NHS Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton.

Mr Solly said it meant a wait of at least three months, further health tests and possibly refusal of treatment.

He said: “I’m just waiting to get my life back but I keep hitting a brick wall.”

The grandfather-of-12 has been confined to his house for eight years, except for hospital visits, since he broke his coccyx and damaged his back falling down concrete steps while working at Dorchester’s Dorset County Hospital. Earlier this month a gastric bypass operation at the Taunton hospital was cancelled due to health concerns.

Mr Solly said reasons included needing to lose more weight, that he could die under general anaesthetic and that he needs treatment for sleep disorder called apnea, which causes his breathing to be interrupted.

But he said the private hospital was confident they could do the operation and these were ‘just excuses’.

“The funding people won’t transfer it to the people who will do the operation for me.

“I’ve got to go to a designated Plymouth hospital, undergo more tests but what happens in three months’ time if they say no?

“I don’t understand if the money’s there and someone’s prepared to do the operation why I can’t have it done.”

Bed-bound Mr Solly said it was hard for him to lose weight because his bad back means he cannot exercise.

“I’ve worked hard all my life and I can’t do anything with my kids and grandchildren because I’m stuck here like a wardrobe.

“I’ve been on a strict diet all week and I’m determined to keep fighting for the operation I’m entitled to.”

A spokesman for NHS Dorset said: “We understand Mr Solly’s frustrations and are sympathetic.

“Whilst we cannot comment on individual cases all patients are entitled to an appeal process and our responsibility is to ensure that they receive treatment at a site that is nationally approved.”