Douglas Whitelaw: Consultant Obesity Surgeon, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire

Douglas Whitelaw: Consultant Bariatric, Laparoscopic, and General Surgeon in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire offering a wide range of general and bariatric surgery procedures including gastic banding, laparoscopic gastric bypass, laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy, hernia repair, and treatment of gallstones.

Mr Douglas Whitelaw MBChB FRCS Edin FRCS (Gen.Surg.) is a Consultant Bariatric, Laparoscopic, and General Surgeon. He is Clinical Director of Surgery for Luton and Dunstable Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

Mr Whitelaw qualified from Edinburgh University Medical School in 1990. He underwent his higher surgical training in a number of London hospitals including the Chelsea and Westminster, Hammersmith, University College, and The Royal Marsden. He took up his position as Consultant Bariatric and Pancreatobilary Surgeon in 2004 and was appointed Clinical Director of surgery in 2009. Luton & Dunstable Hospital is a nationally recognised centre of excellence for bariatric surgery and is the designated centre for the East of England and currently undertakes around 10% of the UKs bariatric operations annually. In March 2011 it was successful in becoming one of the designated centres for Central South England from Oxfordshire to the Isle of Wight. Mr Whitelaw offers a comprehensive weight loss service with the utmost care and consideration. The services is based on a multidisciplinary approach involving consultant endocrinologists, specialist anaesthetists, psychologists, a dietician, and specialist bariatric nurses. Mr Whitelaw uses this multi-disciplinary team approach throughout both his NHS and private practice. Weight loss support groups are also run at both NHS and private practices for pre and post-operative patients.

Clinical interests

Mr Whitelaw’s main areas of interests are bariatric surgery and laparoscopic surgery, including all laparoscopic surgery for the overweight patient. As the designated provider of bariatric surgery for the East of England, Luton & Dunstable Hospital undertakes more than 400 complex bariatric cases per year. These include laparoscopic gastric bands, laparoscopic gastric bypasses, and laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy. In addition to these operations Mr Whitelaw undertakes revision surgery for patients whose previous bariatric weightloss surgery, performed elsewhere, has not been successful.

Mr Whitelaw's other main interest is laparoscopic biliary surgery, including cholecystectomy, laparoscopic bile duct exploration for common bile duct stones, and ERCP for the endoscopic treatment of gallstones and obstructive jaundice.

He undertakes all types of laparoscopic hernia surgery including inguinal hernia repair (TEP), Incisional hernia repair, parastomal hernia repair, and recurrent hernia repair.

Research interests

Mr Whitelaw is actively involved in the ongoing research programme into weight loss and bariatric surgery and its metabolic effects undertaken by the Centre of Obesity research at Luton & Dunstable Hospital.

Published papers

• Contributor to The National Bariatric Surgical Registry (NBSR) Report published April 2011

• Author of chapters on bariatric surgery and appendicetomy in Kirk’s General Surgical Operations (medical text book)

Experience and expertise

Mr Whitelaw has extensive experience in complex laparoscopic surgery and bariatric surgery. He has performed more than 500 bariatric procedures, and over 350 gastric bypasses. He currently performs more than 200 bariatric procedures per year including laparoscopic roux en y gastric bypass, laparoscopic gastric bands, laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy, intragastric balloon placement, and revisional weight loss procedures.

Other key operations he performs are; laparoscopic cholecystectomy (he has performed over 1500 without bile duct injury), laparoscopic bile duct exploration, laparoscopic incisional hernia repair, laparoscopic TEP inguinal hernia repair, and ERCP.

Accreditation and admitting rights at private hospitals

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