'Too fat' woman gets op overseas

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A woman who claims she was told she was too fat for surgery in the UK has undergone a second hip replacement operation in Malta.

Frances Kinley-Manton, of Palnackie, near Castle Douglas, in south west Scotland, needed the surgery due to arthritis pain.

The 15-stone woman said NHS doctors told her to lose two stones before she would be considered for surgery.

Some experts say overweight patients have a higher risk of complications.

Mrs Kinley-Manton said she was unable to shed the weight and took out a mortgage on her house to get the operation overseas.

It goes against my principles to have come to Malta, but I didn't think the surgery was ever going to happen in the UK Frances Kinley-Manton

She paid Â£7,000 for a first operation in Malta in July and this week underwent surgery to replace her other hip at St James Hospital in Sliema.

She claimed that she had no alternative.

"NHS said they wouldn't operate on me because I'm overweight, but I think they were just trying to keep their costs down," she said.

"They wouldn't even put me on a waiting list.

"It goes against my principles to have come to Malta, but I didn't think the surgery was ever going to happen in the UK."

The first operation was a success and she is now walking more and is less dependent on her wheelchair.

'First class'

The treatment made such a difference that she decided to go ahead with an operation to replace her right hip.

Mrs Kinley-Manton had a body mass index of 35 - about 30lbs over the obese level - when she first sought a hip operation.

Her husband George said they were angry that she was denied treatment in the UK.

"We've paid our contribution all our lives and when the time came and my wife needed help, medical attention was denied," he said.

"The operation was totally successful.

"The treatment in Malta was excellent, first class, it's the way hospitals used to be in this country."

Nobody at NHS Dumfries and Galloway was available to comment on the case.