meet the management team

"I have always been a big girl ... I found out early in my life that food was my addiction of choice, I loved it and it was the perfect solution to all my emotional needs. When I was under pressure or had problems I found comfort in food and when I was celebrating I ate because I was happy and it was another reason to 'blow' that week's diet.

I used every excuse to eat and every excuse to convince myself it was okay!

I really struggled over the years, tried every slimming club, every pill , every weird and wonderful way to lose weight and always found myself heavier than when I started!!

I was disgusted with the way I was eating my life away, my friends say I ended up 'super obese' because I had a personality disorder resulting from a lack of will power and self control!

I soon learnt Obesity is a chronic disease and I just couldn't stop myself...

Being overweight was a horrible way to live and I hated every minute of it, I didn't have any medical conditions associated with obesity and at a 60 + BMI this was unusual.

What I did have though were lifestyle conditions associated with obesity and these were embarrassing - incontinence, skin fold infections, not fitting in chairs, aching joints and depression were by far the worst.

Don't get me wrong, I was a nervous wreck the night before surgery and didn't sleep a wink - I was so scared of failing again and also very afraid of the unknown... was I really going to make it this time?

My life has really changed since my WLS and I finally feel 'normal' but surgery isn't magic, you have to work with it!!

Because of the weight I was when I had surgery (just under 25 stone) I guess I always saw banding as a first intervention for me and controlling my weight. I  lost over 10 stone with my gastric band, however, as I had a big band I found restriction an issue and hardly felt any !!

I went on to have further surgery in April 2007. I lost a further 4 stone and also  'protected' the weight I had lost. I do still have my gastric band and I use it in exactly the same way as everyone else does it’s just that I also have a malabsorptive element to my surgery.

I have been given a second chance to live life and I intend to... by helping others, on what can sometimes be, a difficult journey... Live the dream!"

"I am committed to you and your success. I pride myself on the pre and post operative care I have given to patients over the years and can honestly say I love what I do. I too am passionate about making that difference to someone’s life. As I tend to be the clinician facing the patient at reviews it can be an emotional journey to see the patient go from strength to strength - I have shed many tears with patients who have achieved great things along their journey , this makes the hard work all worth while . I feel as though I am helping them get their lives back and that is a precious gift. I pride myself on helping you through the fear and despair to give you health and hope. After having worked for other weight loss surgery providers I am proud to be part of a service that I know is going to deliver such great results for patients and the people around them."

"After having worked with so many patients over the years I really am proud to be part of a service that is owned by such passionate individuals.

Quality patient care and value for money is what the WLS Group aim to provide.

It is a deep desire of mine to make a real difference in the lives of patients, to impact you in some way from the very beginning to the end of your journey. I want to add incredible value to the lives of people that I come into contact with.

Unlike other providers we give you what you want not what the business wants, we will give everyone interested in weight loss surgery tons of great information and let you decide for yourselves who to create a partnership with... we hope you join our fantastic world."

"Weight issues consumed most of my life. Until 2005 when I made the decision to have weight loss surgery. I had spent 25 years dieting, which ultimately led to me ballooning to a massive 23 stone, and a size 32. My weight issues, stemmed from, at root, my father's neurosis. "Francine, oh you shouldn't eat those sweets darling, you don't want to get fat!", to really capture the extent of this, I never even learnt to ride a bike, as my father thought I might fall off and scar my face!! So in essence, I was treated and kept like a doll.

I had my first child at 19 years old, and with the excuse of being pregnant, came the excuse of 'eating for two'... 5 kids later, the pressure of married life, losing both my parents within six months of each other (at 25 years old) and the psychological sabotage of the 'doll' 'eating for two' became 'eating for seven'!

The opportunity to have a lap band really came as a blessing, as my weight increased, my woes and true self became buried beneath the layers, always putting on the jolly fat smile, inside I was a slim person screaming to get out. It came to a point that I knew I had to change not only my life, but the life of my whole family. Which is exactly what I did.

Losing 13 stone in just over a year was a fantastic achievement, however it did mean that my body didn't have the time and elasticity to pop back into place. So cosmetic surgery was the only long term option to take away the 'hanging reminder' of my former shape.

As a professional, well established and well known medium, with a profile of celebrity filled clients, I have really gone from a 'Large Medium' to a 'Small Medium at Large!'

My personal experience with weight issues and food addictions, coupled with the wealth of experience I have dealing with other people's problems on a day to day basis, offers the ingredients (excuse the pun!) to aid others in their journey.

An experience that I and the team believe is not solely down to losing the weight but dealing with the core... the reasons for self sabotage from the off-set."

Due to me not having the correct follow up from my surgery provider I found out in December 2007 that I had band slippage – This scared me to death as I had lost 13 stone and was just managing to maintain it, however, I realised that without my band I would be straight back up to over 20 stone within 6 months and there was no way I was going back there.

I sat down with the medical board of the WLS Group and saw one of our surgeons who suggested I have a Gastric Bypass, therefore, in December I converted and have not looked back since. When I initially had surgery back in 2004 a bypass was not an option for me as the surgeon and provider  I saw only ‘banded’ they didn’t carry out bypasses – this is one of the reasons I wanted to be so heavily involved in this business to help others who go through the same issues after surgery.

"I thrive on achieving results, and one outcome that I am really passionate about is your success and your ability to achieve your weight loss objectives. People have all sorts of motivations for wanting to lose weight ranging from wanting to fit into a great outfit for a special occasion to improving obesity related health problems. Over the years it has been a joy to hear my patients tell me about their weight loss success stories such as reducing or coming off their various medications including diabetic, hypertensives and statins; being able to have the hip operation they so desperately needed; wearing clothes from Next for the first time in years and one that really brought a tear to my eye – getting pregnant. These are the sorts of results I want to help patients achieve. Don't get me wrong, I hear about the hardest challenges and struggles too, but it is my mission to help patients overcome them. It is what I have always done, really enjoyed doing and therefore will do for a long time yet.

I hope to have the opportunity to join you on your journey to better health and better quality of life!"