Police during protests over plans of the new water reservoir. It follows weeks of unrest over pensions reforms. You are watching bbc news, now, Weight Loss Surgery getting thin abroad. A warning that some viewers may find the images in this documentary disturbing. Many of us have struggled with our weight at one time or another. But now, some are taking the extra step surgery to reduce our stomachs. Since i had my Weight Loss Surgery in september 2020, i have lost 10st 9lb. And its clear, travelling abroad for surgery is getting more and more popular. Fuelled by advertising online and difficulty accessing treatment in the uk. I never considered doing it through the nhs, just because i know how Big The Wait Times were. I followed people out to one of the most popular destinations, turkey. And most people seem to have a great experience. But ive learnt that there are things you need to know first. Its a stock image, and theyre leading people to believe that its the truth. We were getting one patient near enough a week. Some straight off the plane from istanbul. I they said, are you the father Ofjoe Thornley . I says, yeah. Got some news for you that hes passed away in turkey. So, is it really safe to put your life in the hands of a surgeon abroad . Im alex. And three years ago, i had Weight Loss Surgery in the uk with the nhs. Its made me healthier, happier and more confident. But these. Jeans used to fit me. And ifeel like now, id probably fit in one leg. Yeah, i can fit in one leg. She chuckles yeah. Like. How can you look at this and not realise how much the surgery has changed my life . My whole body fits in my old jeans. So what if its left me with a little excess skin . I tried everything before opting for Weight Loss Surgery. The way that i was trying to lose weight wasnt healthy. You know, i pushed myself to extremes. A couple of days fasting and then a couple of days eating, and things like that. Id. |d be exhausted with putting everything into trying to lose weight. My whole life would revolve around it. Message alerts. I dont think theres a problem with being big if youre comfortable being big. You know, i did this for reasons personal to me. Ive never been happy with the way that i look. I can remember sitting in dress fitting rooms in shops crying my eyes out because i cant find anything that fits me, or anything that ifeel comfortable in. And ive always wanted to have a child, and my weight was standing in the way of me getting to that goal. Next step is to obviously have a baby. She chuckles. Theres loads of different types of Weight Loss Surgery, but i had gastric sleeve surgery. This is when you have up to 70 of your stomach or more cut out of your body. Its irreversible, and it works cos you get full much quicker and if you try to eat more, you might struggle to keep it down. So when i think about what i ate before surgery, id go for the crisps, probably go for the chocolate, as well, maybe one of these. Id ignore that stuff. And ill show you what i had today. So i had a pasta salad, a chicken pasta salad. Well, i had a quarter. People recognise bulimia, anorexia and other things as being eating disorders, but food addiction, its similar to having an addiction to alcohol or an addiction to cigarettes, and you struggle and battle with it. If i hadnt been approved to have surgery through the nhs, i think i probably would have gone abroad to have surgery. But theres a mixed bag of reviews online. And im sitting here at 10st 6, and she was 17st 10. I dont see me Getting Better ifeel like ive ruined my life. I do have people message me quite a lot saying that theyre going abroad. I dont necessarily like to give much advice on it because i havent been through it myself. But i do want to know more, so ive put some posts up on my social media to see if i can find anyone who will let me follow their journey. I had people that said, oh, im going tomorrow. Im going next week. Some people that said that theyre going together. There was a mother and daughter that said theyre travelling to turkey together at the end of the month. And lucky for me, theyve agreed to let me follow their journey. But you do. Is it karate . Its korean martial arts, which i have done for the past. Nearly13 years. Started as a white belt, im now a Second Degree black belt. So. |. Im fat, im. Im bigger, but im fit. Why did you both decide to have Weight Loss Surgery . I wasjust so fed up. Um. I think id been kind of putting off training for the past maybe five or six weeks, because everything was getting tighter and tighter. And i always feel like they must be looking at me thinking, how on earth is she a Second Degree black belt . And, she probablyjust. Shes been here that long, they probably gave her it. She doesnae deserve it. Oh, no and then you start feeling like, oh, youre not worth it. When you heard your mum had booked it, how did you feel, and why did you make the decision to go for it, as well . Cos i had mentioned about people that i follow on social media that have had it done, and id showed her, like, all their results. Like, look how amazing theyre looking now. And i was like, do you know what, i think im going to do it, too. I think im readyjust to take that massive leap and go for it. Im type two diabetic. Right. So what im hoping with the Weight Loss Surgery is that it puts my diabetes back into remission. Just in the last three years, the hashtag gastric sleeve has been viewed on tiktok nearly 300 million times in the uk. Ive chose to go to turkey because when you actually start researching it online, the first ones that come up is all usually istanbul in turkey, and antalya in turkey. So when i started to look at that, and then one of my clients has recently come back from turkey, and she went there and she had an amazing experience. Did you try and go down the nhs path, or did you consider having it privately in scotland . In scotland, it ranges between £12,000 and £14,000. Like, theres no way we could afford to have done it privately here. Whereas paying £2,000 each to go to turkey. I never considered doing it through the nhsjust because i know how Big The Wait Times were. In scotland, you havent much option. You either pay private or you go abroad. And i mean, dinnae get me wrong, i would much rather that the nhs would have done it. I would much rather have it here. Its notjust kelly marie and melanie who are struggling to access Obesity Surgery in the uk. The number of Weight Loss Surgeries has really gone down since the pandemic. This is the first time in 50 years that i can honestly say im going to do something and i know its going to work for me. I know its going to work. A few days later, and theyre off to turkey. Are you ready . Yeah. Are you ready to go . Lets go it sort of felt quite surreal up until now. Like it wasnt actually going to happen . Yeah. But for us, its like youre excited, but nervous, too, because its not a holiday youre going for. Yeah. Youre still going for surgery. This is where i leave you. Good luck thank you. Bye gulls cry. Its just like the first day of the rest of your life. This is basically it. This is. The last day feeling fat. Kellymarie chuckles. Yeah. Because after today, were on the road to where we want to be in life. 0h they laugh. You will indeed. I think shes wanted this for so long and now its finally happening, its just all totally overwhelming. Cos you know that this is where you want to be, so. Its just. Everythingsjust going the right way, so. See you on the other side. Im a bit sore. Ive been a bit sick since yesterday. Do you want to see my wee tummy . Yeah, if you. Yep. Guys, theres my stomach. New me, though. New me im so happy the operation went well for kelly marie and melanie. And i cant wait to see if they lose their weight. But i want to see if it really is that easy to find a good clinic. Im going to do some research. Everyone i know thats been to turkey for Weight Loss Surgery has done the majority of their research online. So lets have a look at what theyre looking at. So this one says, gastric sleeve, turkey, five star hotel accommodation. Actually, you should be looking at where youre going to have your surgery, the surgeon that youre going to, not where youre going to be staying. If i was going abroad for surgery, i wouldnt even know where to start. It looks like a big part of choosing the right clinic are the Online Reviews and the before and after pictures. But can you always trust everything you see online . 0h there is somebody that i recognise on here. They had their surgery in the uk, privately, and theyre being used on a turkish website for Weight Loss Surgery. I even spotted one clinic that was trying to pass off images anyone can buy on the internet as their own patients. And apparently, some of these supposed patients had written glowing reviews. Its a stock image, and theyre leading people to believe that its the truth. And it worries me. Cos if they havent got any genuine reviews of people that have had surgery with them, theyre having to use fake images and potentially fake reviews, is it a safe clinic to go to . Lots of the clinics say that you can book an appointmentjust by whatsapping them, so i decided to, using the weight that i was before having surgery. Message alert. Its ridiculously quick. Like, i didnt think that by sending a message, id get a response straight away. I was asked for my age, if i took any regular medication, and if i could walk long distances. 0h, hes replied. She scoffs. I got confirmation from the surgeon. Youre suitable for gastric sleeve operation. Ijust, like. I dont understand how he can say that. With the little amount of information that he has. I was offered surgery within 20 minutes for the next week. So, i wanted to share that with someone whod heard it plenty of times before. If your surgeon is able to give you an Operation Date within the next week, id personally say no. | you know . If theyre really good i at what theyre doing, they shouldnt be free next week. So, could you tell us a little bit about what medical negligence is . If the surgery is not up to the standard, | or something goes wrong with it, in other terms, then the patients have the right to ask for compensation. I i have, id say, somewhere from 10 | to 15 enquiries a week sometimes. | wow i dont take on all of them. So, in terms of people booking surgery in turkey, do they tend to go through clinics or directly to surgeons . How does that work . In most cases that come to me, i these are the people whove used these medical tourism agencies. If the surgeon in turkey is held accountable, we sue them, the hospital in turkey is held accountable, We Sue The Hospital as well. However, i cannot sue the agent. They simply say, well, ijust booked a few tickets. Is it safe for people to do research and go and have Weight Loss Surgery in turkey . I think so. Its no, um. No less safe than any other thing, really, online, you know. Its just go to a reputable, credible company. Check, speak to them, find i out their insurance certificate, find out who the surgeon. Is and if theyre registered with the board in turkey. You wouldnt simplyjust walk in to any clinic to even get botox or a facial. And there are a lot of examples of surgery going well when the right research is done. Like one of my best friends, len. She had her Weight Loss Surgery in turkey and now shes literally got everything she ever dreamed of. How long were you, like, struggling with fertility before you had. . Around about seven years. And obviously, nothing was working. But then around a year after having the sleeve, i was expecting mia. Yeah, like, its insane. Like, the fact that i could potentially be that person as well, do you know what i mean . Ive struggled, like, with fertility. It was one of my main reasons for having Weight Loss Surgery and to, like, see your story and how far youve come, like, it really motivates me. You dont think that when the doctors say, you know. Its the weight, yeah. Yeah. Lose the weight, you dont believe that that is the problem. You think that cant be it. It cant be it. And actually, for a lot of people, it is. That is the issue. And you are like the evidence. Yeah, i havent changed anything else besides the fact that ive lost a considerable amount of weight. One day well come shopping for me. Yeah. Definitely. The government says the nhs is trialling new treatments and it takes Obesity Surgery seriously. Before i was offered surgery, i spent years being assessed for it physically and mentally. And because it does have risks, its only offered by the nhs as a last resort after youve tried all other options. Hiya, im alex. So surgery was finally offered to me when my hospital team, including my surgeon, dietician and psychologist, agreed on it in a meeting similar to one im attending today. So the next patient were going to discuss, just to see about her eligibility for surgery, because it looks like shes got quite a few other things going on, including alcohol excess and some psychological issues as well. Mr woodcock has agreed to speak to me before he preps for his next surgery. Hes worried about a growing number of patients that are returning from Weight Loss Surgery in turkey with complications. Certainly over the last 18 months to two years, this is when we saw more patients. We were getting one patient near enough a week coming in, some straight off the plane from istanbul to Newcastle Airport and then straight to Cramlington Hospital where they were very, very unwell. Can you tell me a bit about the sort of complications that you see with patients that are coming back from turkey after Weight Loss Surgery . Yeah, the most serious ones are patients who attend accident and emergency and theyre septic. And they are septic because theyve got a leak. Lets never forget a lot of these patients are morbidly obese, are diabetic, high Blood Pressure, have a whole load of medical problems, and now we are dealing with the complications of surgery. So its technically quite demanding surgery. Do you have any of those complications here in the uk after surgery . We do have those complications, so itd be wrong to just say these things just happen in turkey. But i suppose the big difference here is when we operate on our own patients, we are here to look after them afterwards and, touch wood, i think by the grace of god, weve had no deaths from anybody whos gone to turkey at this moment in time. But i know thats not the case for other parts of the country. I have no issue at all if Patients Want to go to turkey for their operation, as long as theyre going to be looked after. And that looking after is before the surgery and after the surgery. Ive seen a few stories online that match what mr woodcock� s describing. And theres one person, joe, whose story really caught my attention. Joes friends have agreed to tell me about him. So, i metjoe in 2017 at the airport. So, i did a season in ibiza. And we went on to live with each other in ibiza for six months and we had the best season of our lives. He wasnt like someones best friend. He was everyones best friend. When you think of ibiza, you think of beach, bikinis, people walking around, not with many clothes on. Joe never let that affect him. He would always just, like, do big belly flops in the pool. So how do you think his weight affected him . He didnt really speak about it much, not to me anyway. And he did try things. I mean, hed go to the gym, he would have meal plans. I always knew in the back of my mind that he would have loved to lose it. Even though everyone loves you, theres still a lot that goes on up in there. So whenjoe told me that he was going to turkey, obviously i didnt want him to go. I was kind of at the time, i wasjust like, why are you doing that for . Like, you dont need to do that. And hejust said, im just not happy. Like, ive tried everything, megs, and ive got to do it. And did you speak to him when he was in turkey . He messaged me when he was on the way there. I was a bit worried when he sent it me. Because obviously, i knew what the risks were of going there for do it. He went out. And i think it was the first day after he was having his operation. So it was very it happened very fast. And then i said the next day, good morning. Then the morning after i messaged. Then i messaged the day after that on the 12th was a message just saying. What emotions are you supposed to show for the loss of a child, you know . Well, the policeman gave us a phone number of the doctor in turkey, at the hospital in turkey. And then we rang the hospital and the doctorjust turned around and said, oh, he had low Blood Pressure, he had a heart attack. Cardiac arrest. He had a cardiac arrest, and things like this. So we just assumed with him being a biggish lad, that his body had failed, sort of thing. It was only when we got him back to england that they did a. Postmortem. Postmortem on him in england, that we realised that what the turkish doctor had told us was irrelevant. It was nothing to do with that. He died of Internal Bleeding. He died of Internal Bleeding from the surgery site. We didnt tell the family until after christmas because we thought its christmas and its not going to be fair. Its going to upset a lot of people knowing what had actually happened. Well, his friends mainly. You waited until after christmas to tell everyone . Yeah. We thought it better. Dont get upset. He said he wasnt going to cry. I wasnt. I dont want to because my mascara will run. Yeah. Times a good healer. I know its three year nearly, but, yeah, i can. I can cry if i wanted to. You know, just at the drop of a hat type thing. No, im all right. Ill get there. Yeah. We have us moments. Yeah. Dont we . Listening to joes story is heartbreaking. Ive discovered that seven people have died after travelling to turkey for Weight Loss Surgery since 2019. Joe never told his parents what clinic he was going to, and they say the surgeon stopped replying to messages. Eligibility for Weight Loss Surgery is based upon your height to weight ratio. In other words, your body mass index, or bmi. A bmi of 16 to 25 is considered medically healthy. In the uk, Weight Loss Surgery is usually only offered to those with a bmi of over a0. So what are the risks if this surgery was performed on somebody with too low a bmi . So, theres no increased risk of, for example, bleeding or Something Else that a person with a lower bmi would get. But theres nothing to be gained from having Weight Loss Surgery in terms of improved Life Expectancy or improved life quality. So you have to really ask yourself, why are these people having potentially, you know, risky surgery, if something goes wrong, when actually they dont need it . Weve been told that no uk clinic would offer this surgery to someone of a normal weight, but that some clinics in turkey would. So we tested it out. The bbc messaged 27 Weight Loss Clinics in turkey asking if theyll accept me for gastric sleeve surgery. Im currently a size 12 and a bmi of 24. 5, which is considered normal. This is an Obesity Surgery and im about to find out if any of the clinics accepted me at this size. 0k. I have no idea whats going to come out here, as you dont. You dont know either. No, i dont know. Six of those 27 providers accepted my fake profile for gastric sleeve surgery, despite only having a bmi of 211. 5. It just. Baffles me. Its just wrong. They should not be offering any kind of surgery at, you know, at a normal bmi. It just. Itjust makes no sense. Message alerts. And this one really shocked me. Some clinics acknowledged i didnt meet the right criteria, but instead of turning me down for surgery they told me to gain weight. Those medical providers, if theyre willing to encourage somebody to gain weight to come and have surgery, i wouldnt trust them to perform surgery on me. I agree. Its appalling. Ive never come across a situation where somebody� s being told to eat more, to put their weight up. That is just counterproductive, ridiculous, and, you know, at worst, i would say, you know, negligent. Its been six weeks since i saw kelly marie and melanie just before they went to turkey for their gastric sleeves. And today im seeing them for the First Time Since at their martial arts training class. Thank you, sa. Hello oh, my god, how are you both . You both look incredible. Incredible. I think you saw my face when i walked in and it was, like, a shock. You both look incredible. Thanks. I think the big question is, how much weight have you both lost . Cos i dont know. So we weigh on a tuesday, cos thats the week from when we had surgery, and i was two and a half stone down on tuesday. Wow. And i was 2st alb down on tuesday. Wow. Thats incredible. And thats in. Six weeks. Six weeks. Were just. Were amazed at our own results, too. I know. Its crazy. It feels great. And ive just got so much more confidence. Just feeling like, fitting into your uniform better, my health. I wanted to do it for. Mainly for my health. And already my Blood Pressure tablets have been lowered. They reckon that in another few weeks ill be able to come off them completely. Heres to the rest of your lives. I know. I cant wait. Cannot wait. Love that. Group hug . Yeah. Ha ive found out that in this country its difficult to have the surgery on the nhs. That makes people make these quick decisions and its very easy to do that and they dont put the time into researching where theyre going. And all in all, surgery can be such a positive thing. But you need to do your research, and thats whats important. Hello there. It looks like things will be turning colder brieflyjust in time 0nce once the rain clears, the colder air in the north will filter southwards. The rain has been courtesy of this pressure which has been pushing into the continent. A wet start to sunday across the south, eventually the rain will clear away from the south east, but i hang back of cloud here. Further north, sunny spells, may be a few wintry showers of egg in the north coast of scotland but it will be cold, single Figure Digits starting to appear across england and wales. Sunday night will be cold, light winds for many of us, it will turn cold and frosty and there could be a risk of ice across northern and eastern areas. A cold frosty start on monday with sunshine but it doesnt last, it turns more unsettled, mild, wet, and windy again