Once you have decided to have surgery an appointment will be made with the pre-assessment team. The pre-assessment unit is based at the back of the hospital on floor One near the children’s outpatient department.
We want you to be as fit as possible before surgery to prevent cancellation and reduce post-operative complications. The main aim of this assessment is to ensure all of your existing medical conditions are optimised and any new conditions are detected.
This involves arranging all the necessary tests and investigations in preparation for your surgery. You may require a number of visits to pre-assessment to ensure you are fully fit.
An explanation of the procedure and admission details will be discussed with you, and you will be given information in leaflet form to support this. If you have any questions the nursing staff will be happy to advise you. You will be given a telephone number as a point of contact just in case you have questions regarding your planned admission.
Pre-assessment also takes patients who are arriving for their operation.
The process that takes place involves the patient being “admitted”, this includes a final assessment by a surgeon and/or anaesthetist as to whether the patient is fit for surgery. The nurse will also undertake an assessment.
If everything is deemed satisfactory, the patient is then transferred to the operating department where they will undertake their operation.
Following the operation the patient may return to the day surgery unit, if to be discharged on the same day. However, if this is not the case, the patient will be placed on one of the inpatient wards following the operation; this is likely to be the ISU (Inpatient Surgical Unit), or on the Orthopaedic Unit.
The unit as an arrivals area in 2016 and was developed to enable the patient to be admitted to hospital in a dedicated environment that hopes to make the particularly stressful event of an operation as comfortable as possible.
Patient waiting bays are separated by sex; as a result each room will only have a single sex placed within it.
In addition to the routine operations the unit is in the process of developing a specific area to deliver eye/ophthalmic operations. Therefore patients being admitted for surgery such as cataract operations will also be admitted and discharged from the unit.
The unit opens from around 7am and closes up around 7pm.
Accessibility & Travel Information
Click here for accessibility information and directions for visiting the Pre-Assessment Clinic. This page also includes printable guides for your convenience.
