Care Anaesthetics Patient information
Your anaesthetic journey
What happens from the moment your surgeon books your procedure to the time you leave recovery.
1. Your Referral: Your care begins with your surgeon
Surgeon allocates your procedure to us.
After agreeing to a procedure and date, the surgeon & their team allocate your procedure to a theatre list we provide anaesthetic care for. A week or so after this, we will be updated with your details by the surgeon. It is normal not to hear from us right away, we will be in touch!
2. Before Surgery: A few questions to keep you safe
We send anaesthetic questionnaire to you.
Once we have all the details sent by the surgeon's rooms, we will send an anaesthetic questionnaire to you via email. This is where we get to know your medical history, and it helps us to prepare you for a safe anaesthetic. If there is a gap or fee to be paid, it will also be done through the online secure payment portal supplied in the email. After you have completed this, we will review the survey and, if necessary, call you prior to the procedure.
3. Day of Surgery: We meet you before theatre
We meet you in holding bay.
On the day of your procedure, we will meet you in holding bay once we are up to your case. We will try to make you feel relaxed, and may go over aspects of your questionnaire again. We may also place the IV cannula here as we chat. We then take you into theatre, and after what will feel like a tiny nap, you will wake up, usually feeling relaxed, comfortable and as though no time has passed at all!
4. Recovery: Waking up gently, looked after
After your operation.
Once your procedure is done, we will take you ourselves to the recovery bay and hand over your care to specially trained nursing staff. You will recover here until you are ready to go to the ward. This will usually take between half-an-hour and one hour. We will have all of your necessary medications charted, including pain relief and anti-nausea medications, as well as discharge scripts ready to go.