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General Surgery

Your pre-operative information

Patient Information Leaflet

What happens next?

Now you have attended your pre-assessment, the next step is to await a letter from the consultant’s secretary with your admission details.

Please note, there can be a wait on a date for your scheduled surgery. We may also need to bring you back for additional blood tests once your surgery date is known.

In some circumstances, additional tests or appointments may be required. If this is the case, the pre-assessment team will organise this for you and notify you.

You should have been given a leaflet on preventing blood clots today by your pre-assessment nurse. If you do not have this information leaflet, please ask for one.

Please inform pre-assessment if there are any changes to your health or medication, or if you are becoming unwell during this     pre-operative period.

If you wish to cancel or reschedule your surgery, please contact your consultant’s secretary. This telephone number will be on the top left-hand corner of your appointment letter.

Depending on your procedure, you may want extra support or spiritual counselling around the time of your procedure.

You can contact

You can contact the Pre-operative Assessment Unit on 01384 456111 ext. 3301.

On the day of your surgery

Please have a bath or shower as normal, and remove all piercings, make up and nail varnish.

Bring with you a dressing gown, slippers, and basic toiletries.  Please leave any valuable products at home. No jewellery can be worn, except a plain wedding band.

If you are on warfarin, please bring your yellow international normalised ratio (INR) book, as your INR will need to be checked prior to going to theatre.

Your admission time is not your treatment time, so admission on a morning does not necessarily mean you will be going down to theatre in the morning. Theatre lists can be an all-day list. The final order of the theatre list is decided on the morning of the surgery by the surgeon and the surgical team. Therefore, we ask that you bring a book or magazine to read during the wait to go to theatre.

If you are being admitted through day case or B1, we ask that you do not attend with a relative. Arrangements can be made on an individual basis, please call ext.1886 and speak to the nurse in charge.

If you are going to be admitted to day case, please note that relatives are not permitted to remain in the waiting area. They will be contacted when you are ready to be collected for discharge.

You need to arrange 24-hour care after day case surgery. This needs to be someone aged 18 or over. You will not be able to drive yourself home, so please arrange alternative transport.

Fasting

Please follow the below fasting instructions. This is very important as if there is food or liquid in your stomach, there is the danger that it could come up into your throat and cause damage to your lungs, being potentially fatal.

If you do not follow the fasting instructions, this could result in your operation being cancelled due to the risk of the above. Your admission letter will provide details regarding your admission time.

If you are unsure as to what time to arrive on your surgery date, please phone your surgeon’s secretary. This number should be on your previous consultant appointment letters.

Morning admissions – you can eat until 2.30am on the morning of your surgery. You are encouraged to drink plain, clear water until 6.30am on the morning of your surgery.

Afternoon admissions – you can eat a light breakfast until 7am on the morning of your surgery. You are encouraged to drink plain, clear water until 11am on the morning of your surgery.

Once admitted to hospital, sips of water may be offered.

Do not smoke for 48 hours before your surgery.

Do not drink alcohol for at least 12 hours prior to your admission.

Do not suck sweets or chew gum on the day of your operation.

Your anaesthetic

Before your surgery, it is important that you and those involved in your care understand about the anaesthetic, side effects and risks involved.

You may wish to find out more information on the type of anaesthetic you will be having, how to prepare for your anaesthetic, risks of anaesthesia etc.

If you do, you can visit The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust website at www.dgft.nhs.uk/anaesthetics.

There is also the Royal College of Anaesthesia patient information link below.

https://www.rcoa.ac.uk/patientinfo

Your medication instructions for the day of surgery

All medications should be taken with your last sip of water, unless you are instructed otherwise as documented on the following page.

Please bring all medications with you on the day of your surgery.

If you have any questions, or if there is anything you do not understand, please contact the Russells Hall Hospital switchboard number on 01384 456111 and ask for the relevant department who issued this leaflet.

If you have any feedback on this patient information leaflet please email dgft.patient.information@nhs.net

This leaflet can be made available in large print, audio version and in other languages, please call 0800 073 0510.

Originator: Kirsty Smith. Date reviewed: May 2024. Next review date: February 2027. Version: 7. DGH ref: DGH/PIL/02053.