Patient information leaflets
You can find all of our patient information leaflets on this page.
Our patient information leaflets describe a variety of conditions, investigations and treatments and explain what you can expect from your next visit to hospital. You can see all of our patient information leaflets sorted by service here, or go to our services directory to find the right leaflet for you, along with additional information about each service.
Audiology
- Cleaning and sterilising ear moulds
- Communication awareness
- Hearing aid batteries
- Hearing aid fault finding
- Fitting your new ear moulds to your hearing aid
- Open fitting hearing aids
- Removing condensation
- Retubing ear moulds
- Sound generators
- The induction loop system
- Wax build up guidance
- Your hearing aid fitting appointment
- Speech audiometry appointment
- Your tinnitus assessment appointment
- Your balance assessment appointment
- Your microsuction assessment appointment
- Your hearing assessment appointment
- Lost hearing aid
Physiotherapy
- Improving shoulder and arm pain and movement class for people being treated for breast cancer
- Intro to physiotherapy SMH 2020
- Intro to phyisotherapy CXH 2020
- Welcome to pelvic health physiotherapy
- covid 19 Movement and Activity Exercises V3 revised Final Aug 20
- The Rehabilitation Gym at Charing Cross Hospital
Pelvic health physiotherapy
Blood tests
Cancer services
- Open Access FollowUp OAFU Information for patients relatives and carers
- Open Access FollowUp OAFU Information for GPs
- Non Site Specific Cancer Rapid Diagnostic Centre
Bowel cancer
- Colorectal Lower Gastrointestinal patient pathway
- Colorectal Open Access FollowUp insert Information for patients relatives and carers
- Cytoreductive surgery CRS followed by heated intraoperative peritoneal chemotherapy HIPEC
- Dietary guide for people with a new ileostomy
- Enhanced Recovery Programme ERP for colorectal surgery
- Erectile dysfunction from colorectal cancer treatment
- OAFU for colorectal cancer
- Rectal cancer
Breast services
- Having a biopsy of the breast core and vacuum assisted
- Having an MRI guided biopsy of the breast
- Having nipple areola micropigmentation nipple tattooing
- Your vacuum excision biopsy of the breast
- Having a contrast-enhanced spectral mammogram
- After your breast core biopsy
- After your vacuum assisted core biopsy of the breast
- Open access followup OAFU for breast cancer
- Support for people with secondary breast cancer
Chemotherapy
- Chemotherapy spillage kit
- Cytoreductive surgery CRS followed by heated intraoperative peritoneal chemotherapy HIPEC
- Home administration of trastuzumab by subcutaneous injection
Gynaecological cancer
- Gynaecological cancer health and wellbeing clinics
- Open access followup OAFU for gynaecological cancer
- surgery for vulva cancer
- Nurse led telephone follow up clinic for early stage endometrial cancer
- Nutrition and Ovarian Cancer
Head and neck cancer
- Flying after laryngectomy surgery
- Glossectomy
- Laser surgery and dilatation surgery
- Looking after your voice during radiotherapy
- Mandibulectomy
- maxillectomy without recon
- Neck dissection
Lung cancer
Neuro-oncology
Oesophago-gastric cancer
- Enhanced Recovery Programme ERP for upper GI surgery
- My treatment plan booklet oesophago gastric service
- Gastroscopy with endoscopic mucosal resection
Skin cancer
Urological and urothelial cancers
Cardiology
- Ambulatory blood pressure monitor
- Ambulatory holter monitor
- Atrial fibrillation virtual ward
- Exercise tolerance test
- Having a device box change
- Having a diagnostic coronary angiogram
- Having a lead revision or extraction
- Having a pacemaker implantation
- Having a percutaneous coronary intervention
- Having a ventricular tachycardia ablation
- Having an atrial fibrillation tachycardia ablation
- Having an atrial flutter ablation
- Having an electrophysiology study and ablation
- Having an implantable cardioverter defibrillator
- Having an implantable loop recorder ILR implant
- Having an implantable loop recorder ILR removal
- Pulmonary exercise test MV02 test
- 7 day event recorder
Cardiac imaging
- Bubble echocardiogram
- Contrast echocardiogram
- Echocardiogram
- Stress echocardiogram
- Transesophageal Echocardiogram
Cardiovascular health and rehabilitation
Electrophysiology and devices
- Having a device box change
- Having a lead revision or extraction
- Having a pacemaker implantation
- Having an implantable cardioverter defibrillator
- Having an implantable loop recorder ILR implant
- Having an implantable loop recorder ILR removal
- Having a ventricular tachycardia ablation
- Having an atrial fibrillation tachycardia ablation
- Having an atrial flutter ablation
- Having an electrophysiology study and ablation
Heart failure
Percutaneous coronary intervention
Structural heart intervention
Children's services
- Extravasation injury
- COVID19 vulnerable children
- Dave the Dog is worried about coronavirus
- Coronavirus toolkit for families
Children's allergy
- Dietary advice for cows milk allergic children who tolerate baked milk
- Dietary advice for egg allergic children who tolerate baked egg
- Drug challenge what you need to know children
- Food challenge what you need to know children
- Following your inconclusive food challenge supervised feed
- Following your successful drug challenge
- Following your successful food challenge supervised feed
- Following your unsuccessful drug challenge
- Following your unsuccessful food challenge supervised feed
- Soya ladder
- Supervised feed what you need to know children
- Wheat ladder
Children's audiology
- Ear wax treatment
- Getting your child to wear their hearing aids
- Hearing aid fitting appointment
- Transitioning to adult audiology services
- Welcome to the childrens audiology department
- Your babys hearing assessment
- Your childs hearing assessment appointment
- Hearing screening and congenital cytomegalovirus CMV
Children's haematology, blood and marrow transplantation
- Allogenic bone marrow harvest children
- Autologous bone marrow harvest children
- Automated red cell exchange children
- Before your child has a stem cell transplant
- Bone marrow aspirate and trephine children
- Getting ready for your childs bone marrow transplant
- Haematology transition clinic children
- Haemoglobinopathy services at St Marys Hospital children
- Infusion of Desferrioxamine Mesilate Desferal children
- Liver Biopsy A guide for families
- Preoperative testing for blood disorders children
- Priapism and sickle cell disease in adolescents
- Priapism and sickle cell disease in children
- Returning to School after a bone marrow transplant
- Skin biopsy - information for families
- Tissue typing HLA typing
- Transcranial Dopplers TCD children
- Warfarin anticoagulation in children
Children's imaging
Children's infectious diseases
Children's physiotherapy
Children's respiratory
Neonatology
- Food for parents on the neonatal unit
- Welcome to the neonatal unit at St Marys Hospital
- Welcome to the neonatal unit at Queen Charlottes and Chelsea Hospital
- Early onset neonatal infection
- Probiotics for premature babies
- Choosing a bottle for your baby
- Neonatal Jaundice
- What to bring in for your baby or babies while they are in the neonatal unit
- Dexamethasone Treatment
- Breast milk fortifier on discharge
- Screening for antibiotic resistant bacteria
- Integrated family care programme
- Food for parents on the neonatal unit - SMH only
- How to use your Miniboo
Clinical neurophysiology
- Your Home Video Telemetry
- Your childs electroencephalogram test EEG
- Your childs nerve conduction studies electromyography test
- Your Childs Sedated EEG
- Your Childs Sleep Deprived EEG
- Video Telemetry VTEL
- Your ambulatory electroencephalogram
- Your brainstem auditory evoked potential test
- Your Electroencephalogram test EEG
- Your motor evoked potential test
- Your nerve conduction studies electromyography tests
- Your Sleep Deprived EEG test
- Your somatosensory evoked potential test
- Your thermal threshold test
- Your visual evoked potential test
Dermatology
Hair and nail disorders
Ear, nose and throat
- Airway injection steroid
- Blue laser to voice box
- Botox injection to voice box
- Superior Laryngeal Nerve Block
- Transnasal oesophagoscopy
- Vocal cord injection
Easy read leaflets
- Domestic abuse easy read
- Having a blood test easy read
- Having a radical nephrectomy easy read
- Having a bronchoscopy easy read
- Having a CT scan easy read
- Having a gastroscopy easy read
- Having a general anaesthetic easy read
- Having an MRI scan easy read
- Having an xray easy read
- How to make a comment or complaint easy read
- Inpatient information leaflet easy read
- Outpatients information leaflet easy read
- MRSA what does it mean
Elderly medicine
Dementia care team
Emergency care
Accident and emergency
Endocrinology
Diabetes
Gastroenterology
- St Marks solution
- St Marks Solution update Feb 2020
- Your treatment to remove pancreatic duct stones Lithotripsy
Endoscopy
- Low residue diet
- Understanding capsule endoscopy
- Understanding oesophageal manometry and 24-hour pH monitoring
- Understanding gastroscopy
- Understanding patency capsule test
- Understanding colonoscopy
- Understanding flexible sigmoidoscopy
- Understanding gastroscopy and colonoscopy
- Understanding gastroscopy and flexible sigmoidoscopy
- Low residue diet
- How to take bowel prep extended bowel prep Moviprep
- How to take bowel prep KleanPrep
- How to take bowel prep Moviprep
- How to take bowel prep Plenvu
- Understanding transnasal gastroscopy
- Understanding endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography
- Understanding endoscopic ultrasound scan
- After your colonoscopy and polypectomy
- After your colonoscopy procedure
- After your endoscopy and flexible sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy
- After your endoscopy
Gynaecology
- Mayer Rokitansky Kuster Hauser syndrome MRKH
- MRKH Psychology service
- Vaginal dilators and MRKH
- Gynaecological abdominal and pelvic surgery
Colposcopy
- What is Colposcopy
- Colposcopy treatment under general anaesthetic
- Following a cervical biopsy
- After your colposcopy treatment
Early pregnancy and urgent gynaecology
- Surgical management of miscarriage
- Pregnancy of unknown location
- Intrauterine pregnancy of uncertain viability
- Medical management of miscarriage
- Miscarriage
- Molar pregnancy hydatidiform mole
Hysteroscopy clinic
Minimal access surgery for gynaecology
Termination of pregnancy
Urogynaecology
Haematology
Bleeding and clotting disorders
- Dental services for patients with inherited bleeding disorders
- Desmopressin for people with inherited bleeding disorders
- Mild or moderate haemophilia
- Surgical procedures for people with inherited bleeding disorders
- Telephone clinic appointments for people with inherited bleeding disorders
Red blood cell disorder
- Clinical haematology outpatient department and day care services at HH
- Automated red blood cell exchange for patients with sickle cell disease
- About sickle cell disease
- About thalassaemia
- Clinical haematology welcome pack
- Contraceptive advice for patients with sickle cell disease
- Day pain service for patients with sickle cell disease
- Deferiprone tablets
- Desferrioxamine
- Haemoglobinopathy services for adults
- Hydroxycarbamide treatment in adults with sickle cell disease SCD
- Implanted double lumen Vortex Port
- Pain management for adults with sickle cell disease
- Pregnancy and sickle cell disease
- Priapism in sickle cell disease
- Travelling abroad advice for patients with sickle cell disease and thalassaemia
- Using incentive spirometry in sickle cell disease
Imaging
- Cerebral Aneurysm
- CT Colonography_
- Having a CT scan
- Having a CT scan easy read
- Having microwave ablation of a renal kidney tumour
- Having a microwave ablation of liver tumours
- Arranging your hysterosalpingogram HSG
- Having an ultrasound guided muscle biopsy
- Having a musculoskeletal ultrasound scan and injection_Final_July 2020
- Having a cerebral angiogram
- Having an MRI scan easy read
- Having an xray easy read
- Mechanical Thrombectomy for Acute Ischaemic Stroke
- Radiologically Inserted Gastrostomy
- Sentinel lymph node injection and scan
Infection prevention control
- Carbapenemase producing Enterobacteriaceae
- Clostridium difficile
- MRSA screening
- MRSA what does it mean
- Norovirus
- Your role in reducing the risk of infection
Kidney and transplant services
Specialist kidney care
Maternity services
Giving birth
Maternity services
- Planning Your Birth
- Suspected or confirmed COVID 19 in pregnancy
- Looking After Yourself and your baby in pregnancy
- Having a maternity scan
- Customised growth charts and the DESiGN GAP study
- Preventing and treating anaemia during pregnancy
- Parent Information for newborn babies
- Visiting our maternity wards
- HIV and breastfeeding your baby
- Staying with your partner overnight
- Hiring hospital grade breast pumps
- What do I need to bring in for my baby babies while they are in the neonatal unit
- Eating well for mothers who are expressing
- Safe sleeping for your baby
Medicines management
Neurology
Clinical neurophysiology
- Video Telemetry VTEL
- Your ambulatory electroencephalogram
- Your childs nerve conduction studies electromyography test
- Your brainstem auditory evoked potential test
- Your Childs Sedated EEG
- Your childs electroencephalogram test EEG
- Your Sleep Deprived EEG test
- Your somatosensory evoked potential test
- Your thermal threshold test
- Your visual evoked potential test
- Your nerve conduction studies electromyography tests
- Your Childs Sleep Deprived EEG
- Your Electroencephalogram test EEG
- Your Home Video Telemetry
- Your motor evoked potential test
Nutrition and dietetics
- Easy chew food
- Easy chew food for people with kidney conditions
- Minced Moist food
- Minced Moist food for people with kidney conditions
- Pureed food
- Pureed food for people with kidney conditions
- Soft and bite sized food
- Soft and bite sized food for people with kidney conditions
Ophthalmology
- Chalazion
- Chlamydial conjunctivitis
- Chronic Open Angle Glaucoma
- Childrens eye care service
- Convergence exercises
- Corneal cross linking
- Corneal transplants
- Dacryocystorhinostomy DCR
- Diabetic retinopathy
- Double vision
- Drainage operation lacrimal bypass using a Lester Jones tube
- Dry eyes
- Ectropion and entropion
- Epiretinal Membrane ERM
- Episcleritis
- Eye preparations that can be bought over the counter
- Evisceration and enucleation
- Eyelid tumours
- Fitting and wearing your glasses
- Orbital decompression surgery Information for patients relatives and carers
- Orthoptic and visual field service
- Peripheral Iridotomy Laser
- Preparing for day surgery or a short stay in hospital
- Post operative posturing following vitreoretinal surgery
- Posterior vitreous detachment
- Pterygium and Surgery
- Ptosis
- Pupil dilating eye drops
- Recurrent corneal erosion
- Retinal detachment
- Retinoplexy laser
- Selective laser trabeculoplasty
- Scleritis Final
- Subconjunctival haemorrhage
- Adult squint surgery
- Trabeculectomy surgery
- Visual aid apps for visual impairment
- What you need to know about your dilating eye drops treatment
- YAG laser capsulotomy
- Your glaucoma clinic journey
- Your visit to the macula clinic
- Botulinum toxin treatment for squint
- Cataract surgery
- Fundus fluorescein angiography
- Glaucoma diagnostics and monitoring
- Glaucoma drainage device Tube Implantation
- Immunosuppression for thyroid eye disease
- Immunosuppression in COVID_19
- Implantable Collamer Lens
- Lattice Degeneration
- Macular Hole Information for patients relatives and carers
- Medical retina diagnostic clinic March 21 FINAL
- Microbial keratitis
- MINIject Glaucoma drainage device
- Adenoviral conjunctivitis
- Amblyopia and occlusion therapy
- Anterior Uveitis
- Atropine occlusion for children
- Bacterial conjunctivitis
- Blepharitis and eyelid hygiene treatment
- Blood thinners and oculoplastic surgery
- One stop cataract clinic and questionnaire
Ophthalmology accident and emergency
Orthopaedics
Hand therapy
- Flexor tendon injury
- Fractured wrist
- Fractured wrist after removing your dressings
- Fractured wrist after surgery
- Fractured wrist removal of a wrist cast
- Peripheral nerve injury
- Peripheral nerve repair
- Tendon repairs
- Active tendon gliding exercises
- General finger exercises
- How to help sensitive scars
- How to look after scars
- How to use Coban wrap
- Mallet finger splint change
- Shoulder exercises
- Splint wear instructions
- Swelling oedema management
- Wrist strengthening exercises
Outpatients
- Outpatient information leaflet
- Access your personal health record online
- Patient initiated follow up PIFU
Pain management
- What symptoms to look out for after having an epidural for pain relief
- Qutenza 2020
- Pain injections 2020
Pharmacy
- Changing from branded to generic pirfenidone medicine
- Getting the most from your Sodium Glucose Cotransporter2 Inhibitors
- Homecare medicines service
- How to use potassium permanganate soaks
- Medicines support after leaving hospital
- Self administration of medicines
- Tocilizumab and Sarilumab treatment for Covid 19
- Unlicensed medicines
Plastic and reconstructive surgery
Carpal tunnel care clinic
Respiratory medicine
- Bronchoscopy
- Chest drain insertion
- COPD virtual ward
- Endobronchial ultrasound EBUS
- Pleural biopsy
- Indwelling pleural catheter IPC aftercare
- Local anaesthetic thoracoscopy
- Pleural aspiration
- Pneumothorax
- Preparing for your indwelling pleural catheter
- Talc pleurodesis
- After your local anaesthetic thoracoscopy
- After your pleural biopsy
- After your pleural aspiration
- Ambulatory pneumothorax management
Asthma
Endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS)
Lung function acute and specialist medicine
- Ambulatory oxygen assessment
- Cardiopulmonary exercise test CPET
- Histamine challenge test
- Hypertonic saline trial
- Hypoxic challenge test
- Long term oxygen therapy
- Lung function tests
- Nebulised antibiotic assessment
- Skin allergy tests
Pleural disease
- Bronchoscopy
- Pleural biopsy
- After your pleural biopsy
- Local anaesthetic thoracoscopy
- Pleural aspiration
- Preparing for your indwelling pleural catheter
- After your pleural aspiration
- Pneumothorax
- Ambulatory pneumothorax management
- Chest drain insertion
- Indwelling pleural catheter IPC aftercare
- Talc pleurodesis
- Endobronchial ultrasound EBUS
Sleep services
- Your actigraphy study
- How to set up the humidifier on your CPAP machine
- Individual CPAP collection
- Group CPAP collection1
- How to set up your sleep study kit at home
- Your CPAP treatment FAQs
- Your sleep polygraphy at home
- Parasomnia
- Non invasive ventilation
- A timetable for a better nights sleep
- Your polysomnography and multiple sleep latency test
- Your Transcutaneous Carbon Dioxide study
- Your sleep polygraphy in hospital
- Your polysomnography test
Sleep Centre
- Your actigraphy study
- Group CPAP collection
- Your CPAP treatment FAQs
- Your sleep polygraphy at home
- Parasomnia
- Non invasive ventilation
- A timetable for a better nights sleep
- Your polysomnography and multiple sleep latency test
- Your Transcutaneous Carbon Dioxide study
- How to set up the humidifier on your CPAP machine
- How to set up your sleep study kit at home
Speech and language therapy
- Changes to your breathing after laryngectomy surgery
- Consent to register with a third party supplier for stoma products
- Easy chew food
- Easy chew food for people with kidney conditions
- Looking after your neck stoma after laryngectomy surgery
- Looking after your voice during radiotherapy
- Pureed food
- Pureed food for people with kidney conditions
- Soft and bite sized food
- Soft and bite sized food for people with kidney conditions
Surgery
Anaesthetics
Colorectal surgery
- Cytoreductive surgery CRS followed by heated intraoperative peritoneal chemotherapy HIPEC
- Enhanced Recovery Programme ERP for colorectal surgery
General surgery
HPB surgery
Neurosurgery
Pre-assessment for surgery
Trauma services
- Coping with stress after a traumatic event
- Major Trauma Centre
- covid 19 Movement and Activity Exercises V3 revised Final Aug 20
Trustwide
- A guide to the adult post mortem examination
- Care in the last days of life
- Cardiopulmonary resuscitation and treatment escalation plans
- Coming into hospital for a procedure or surgery
- Eating and drinking in the last months and weeks of life
- Having a CT scan
- Having a gastroscopy
- Having a general anaesthetic
- Having an MRI scan
- Having an X ray
- Hospital discharge information
- HIV testing
- Information following a bereavement
- Let us know
- Making decisions about your care and treatment
- MRSA screening
- Preventing deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism
- Preventing deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism in coronavirus COVID19 infection Rivaroxaban
- Preventing deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism in coronavirus COVID19 infection Apixaban
- Reclaiming the Ultra Low Emission Zone ULEZ charge
- Specialist palliative care team
- Support for family and friends after the death of a loved one
- Useful information on your stay in hospital
- Visitor guidance
- When your procedure is cancelled on the day or at short notice
- Working together to prevent pressure ulcers
- Your hospital discharge another place of care
- Your hospital discharge going home
Urology
Vascular surgery
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