The Bariatric Centre of Excellence has received an accreditation by The Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program (MBSAQIP).
A joint program of the American College of Surgeons and the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, the MBSAQIP works to advance safe, high-quality care for bariatric surgical patients through the accreditation of bariatric surgical centers.
This is only the fourth center in Canada to receive such recognition. To receive the accreditation, centers go through a rigorous review process which it proves they can maintain certain physical resources, human resources, and standards of practice.
Medical Director Dr. Christopher Schlachta describes the process of going through the accreditation as ‘’onerous.’’
‘’Whenever we go through any kind of accreditation, there’s always a fair bit of consternation about why we are trying to meet all of these standards. But once you work through the process, the result is several things. The first is, it’s an acknowledgment of the outstanding quality program that we have here. It’s a whole team. Of course, it’s not just the surgeons, it’s the whole team of care that we provide. And that is acknowledged by receiving full accreditation on all of the standards.’’
‘’London is already known as a very great center for medicine, and this one more notch in their belt,’’ says Sandy Achilleos, one of the patients who had bariatric surgery at the center in October 2022.
She evaluates the procedure as ‘’life-changing.”
‘’I feel better, I look better, I move better, I do all kinds of things now. The biggest thing lately is I joined a gym. And if you knew me, you would know how foreign this is to me. It has meant the absolute world to me.’’
Schlachta touched on how having the surgery can improve one’s long-term survival, in the same way as when talking about having surgery for cancer improves this survival.
‘’When we talk about individuals needing orthopedic surgery, like orthopedic surgery and being disabled and needing surgery in order to improve their quality of life and their function, that is also a benefit of having bariatric surgery, about having obesity surgery.’’
‘’And so, we actually hit both of those areas of improvement very hard. I think as a result, we’re having a very significant impact on the population in London that really are benefiting from this care and really need this care.’’
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