Pre-assessment for surgery
Our pre-assessment for surgery service assesses the general health of patients who have been referred for surgery.
Following your recent outpatient appointment, the clinician has made a decision for you to have an operation and it is therefore necessary for you to attend a nurse-led pre-operative assessment clinic before the operation. This is the next step in your care pathway. If you have more complex medical issues, an anaesthetist may also see you, although not necessarily on the same day. The purpose of the appointment is to assess your general health through a brief discussion of your health as well as a series of tests before you have an anaesthetic and undergo surgery. This service reduces the number of operations that are cancelled on the day due to unforeseen problems.
Currently, this centralised pre-operative assessment service assesses patients from the following specialities:
- ear, nose and throat (ENT)
- general surgery
- vascular surgery (doctor-led appointments at St Mary's only)
- urology
- gynaecology (doctor-led appointments are held at St Mary's only)
- ophthalmology (held at Charing Cross only)
- breast services
- plastic and reconstructive surgery
- trauma services
- orthopaedics
- interventional radiology (for neurology and hepatobiliary medicine)
Other specialties offer a separate pre-operative assessment service to patients within their own departments.
We offer elective placements for medical students and operating department practitioners (OPDs). If you are interested, contact your placement coordinator for the Trust, or call Helen Evbuomwan (lead nurse) at 020 3313 4455 or Janet Hancock (clinical nurse manager) at 020 3312 1047.
Your inpatient stay Your stay in hospital
You may need to stay at one of our hospitals to have a procedure or receive treatment, either overnight as an inpatient or during the day as a day patient. Ahead of your inpatient stay, you will usually need to attend a pre-operative assessment appointment.
Find out more about how you can reschedule or cancel your inpatient stay, pre-operative assessments, what to bring with you when you come to hospital and much more.
Latest news See all news
-
Read the full storyWeight loss surgery linked to improvement in breathing issues for obese patients
A new study led by researchers at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust suggests that bariatric surgery, also known as weight loss surgery, may reverse some of the negative effects of obesity on the respiratory system.
-
Read the full storyHealthcare professionals at St Mary’s Hospital to have secure view of real-time test results via mobile devices
Healthcare professionals will soon have secure access to their patients’ latest test results from their mobile devices via the Streams app. This is the latest way the Trust is using advances in digital technology to provide better care.
-
Read the full storyTrust awarded £1.9m for state-of-the-art surgical and imaging theatre
The Trust has been awarded funding to create a new ‘endovascular hybrid’ theatre, allowing patients with complex blood vessel problems to be treated with the most up-to-date procedures.
