"My mother's knee surgery"

My mother attended the RAH in mid January 2016 requiring knee surgery, the doctor informed her that her BMI had to be 35 or under before they would put her on the waiting list. They gave her a follow up appointment for April 16. I went with her to this appointment and it was a different doctor and a GP who was observing. She was so pleased as she had managed to get her BMI to 35 with the help of a local slimming club who had took her measurements that morning.

The doctor informed her that her BMI was 38, when I questioned the results he instructed a nurse to take her to another room and check the results I asked if I could go with her and he refused. When she came back he said there results were still the same. After a long discussion and me requesting the details they had used for the calculation (weight and height) which he would not divulge he informed us that she would be given an appointment to return in 6 months to see if her BMI was low enough to go on the waiting list. I informed him that he was affecting her quality of life by his actions and he told me that he still earned the same wages and his quality of life was fine so it had no effect on him.

As my mother was getting very upset I left and the GP apologised for the Doctors comments. The next day she went to her own doctor who informed her that her BMI was actually 34. He requested the details of the calculation and we discovered that they had reduced her height by 8cm. This meant her BMI would be over the limit. The whole experience left her anxious and depressed luckily the GP referred her the QEUH who do not have a BMI limit but even if they did she is under 35. To treat people this way is absolutely shocking.