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Chloe Quick, 23, had an operation for a gastric sleeve on April 23 and later collapsed with her now unable to leave the hospital, with her friends back home rallying for her
A close friend of a woman trapped in a Turkish hospital with rising bills after an operation has spoken out about her ordeal.
NHS healthcare assistant Chloe Quick, 23, underwent £1,500 gastric sleeve surgery in April. It was considered a success at first but later she developed an unexpected bleed and collapsed. It was discovered her spleen had ruptured which doctors say was caused when she fell to the floor but since then she has been unable to return home after undergoing emergency surgery.
Her medical bill is currently at £5,000 during her stay, with a fundraiser launched in her honour. Now a friend has spoken out about her ordeal. Janetta Wilson said: “Chloe is my friend and work colleague, she is the person who would help anyone. And I truly mean anyone. We spoke on our last shift before the flight and never thought this would be the outcome. Love you Chloe, speedy recovery.”
Another friend of Chloe’s, Leah Mattson, set up a GoFundMe page to help the family cover the costs of the extra medical bills. In the most recent update she revealed doctors in Turkey are demanding another £300 for a blood transfusion, writing: “Where will the costs end?”
She previously said: “Chloe is now out of ICU and is back in her hospital recovery room. She’ll have to stay there a bit longer because of the risk of blood clots if she gets on a plane too soon.
“She unfortunately couldn’t afford the price of the company I went with, which cost £3,400. She’s always been stressed with money and worked so hard to save up. She might have to stay another week – it all depends on her healing. The hospital has just thrown the £5,000 bill at her and that’s not the end of it. That’s the care up until today but obviously, she’s going to be there longer.”
She added on her fundraiser: “Chloe is the last person to ask for help when she needs it, she worked herself to the bone to save this money for the surgery by doing extra shifts at the hospital. Chloe is NHS bank staff which means she is on a zero-hour contract, although she tends to work between 37-50 hours a week she is not contracted or substantive staff.
“It means the only pay she will receive whilst being off work is SSP (roughly £400 a month) that won’t even cover her rent, let alone bills, food, childcare expenses. As we all know £400 is impossible to live off in this day and age, especially with a two-year-old son.”
Earlier this week a woman urged people not to get weight loss surgery abroad following a botched procedure in Turkey . Leanne O’Driscoll, 43, from West Ireland, said she had reached “breaking point” with her weight and took a drastic solution to shed the pounds after trying various diets with no results.
The mum-of-three decided to travel to Turkey for a £2,400 op. Despite having high hopes for the procedure, Leanne woke up in a nightmare. She said: “I kept vomiting blood and my body was wracked with pain. I feared the worst, but the nurses kept telling me it was normal. After one week, I had recovered enough to go home. But on the flight, I was shivering cold and before I went to bed, I collapsed and fell unconscious.”
Earlier this year it was reported the Office of National Statistics estimates the number of people travelling abroad for surgery almost doubled over four years, with 248,000 UK residents choosing the option in 2019 compared to 120,000 in 2015.
Clinics in Turkey charge less for their services as rent and medical facility costs are much cheaper than in the West. While the exact same surgery can cost from around £7,000 in private UK hospitals, over there, you can expect to pay 30 to 70% less.
In a UK private hospital, gastric sleeve surgery – which involves the insertion of a silicone band around the stomach so people feel fuller sooner – costs £8,000 to £10,000, but in Turkey it can be as little as £2,500. A nose job in the UK could set you back around £4,000 to £7,000 but in Turkey, it can be from £3,000 including transfers and hotel. The cost of liposuction in Turkey can come in at around £1,500 to £3,000, compared to UK prices of £5,000 to £12,000.
In the most recent data published by NHS Digital, the Health Survey for England, 2021 , showed 26% of adults in England were obese and 11% of those reported they had received a diagnosis of diabetes from a doctor.