Meet The Clinical Team

Anaesthetists

Our team of anaesthetists is too large to profile each individual! The Anaesthetic Lead Consultant is Dr Nick Kennedy based in Taunton. He has been performing bariatric anaesthesia for the past six years and undertakes to ensure training and mentoring of anaesthetists in all the hospitals within our group. He is also a leader in the clinical advancement of bariatric anaesthesia in the UK, with the formation of a specialist clinical group in 2009

The team is committed to the highest standards of treatment practice which includes collecting and publishing data on our treatment outcomes and measuring the impact of the treatment on patients. We have four surgeons and a comprehensive team which includes dietitians, psychologists, specialist nurses, anaesthetists, endocrinologists and support staff.

Nick Kennedy

Dietitians

We have two bariatric specialists dietitians on the team, who rotate around our clinics. They both have many years experience in helping patients lose weight with both medical and surgical treatment programmes.

Following your surgery, our dietitians will help you to adjust your eating behaviours to get the best out of your surgery and also check that you are getting all the vitamins and minerals you need from your diet – to assist with this we use dietary analysis software and invite clients to keep a one-week food diary which we analyse and discuss as a routine part of your aftercare.

Anne Wheeler	Debra Williams

Nurses

We have two bariatric specialists nurses on the team, Nicky Green and Tanya Porter, who rotate around our clinics.

Nicky Green is the only nurse in the UK to hold a recognised international qualification in Bariatric Surgery Nursing, having completed her training in the USA in 2009.

Nicky and Tanya hold 1:1 discussions with prospective clients who are considering surgery, ensure patients are informed about their treatment, prepare them for their operations, ensure all clinical information is gathered and most importantly, guide clients through the post-operative pathway. Both also perform band adjustments in our clinics.

Nicky Green	Tanya Porter

Counsellors

Included in all our surgery packages is an optional one-hour session with either Dr Althea Pearson, an experienced counselling psychologist or Chrissie Palmer, a specialist counsellor in obesity. This provides an opportunity for you to give consideration to questions and concerns you may have, perhaps at the back of your mind, about joining the surgery programme.

How you use the hour will be up to you: you may want to find a way to acknowledge and celebrate this important step you have taken, or you may value a little extra outside encouragement, or you may prefer to look ahead to how you will respond to comments when your weight loss becomes apparent. However you chose to use the hour, Althea or Chrissie will support you and work with you to maximise the benefits.

Althea Pearson	Chrissie Palmer