You should have a pre-operative assessment before having an operation to establish an up-to-date picture of your current general health. You may be invited to a pre-operative assessment clinic appointment or a review either by telephone or virtually by a video call. The pre-operative assessment clinic is a Nurse-led clinic where you will be met by a health care support worker and assessed by a specialist pre-operative assessment nurse; an anaesthetist may also see you at this appointment.  

At the point of admission, you may be given advice about your diet. You may be instructed to not eat immediately. If you have been instructed to not eat (fast) before the operation, it is important that you do not eat or drink anything – this includes light snacks, sweets, and water.

You'll be asked questions about your health; medical history and some tests may be carried out. The tests you have will depend on what operation and the kind of anaesthetic you are having. These tests might include blood tests, urine tests or lung function tests. We would aim to do these tests during the one visit and if further tests are required, we will endeavour to perform these as close to your home as possible to reduce the need to travel.

Having been given all the information you need following your assessment you may want to take some time to think about whether to go ahead with the operation. You may find it helpful to look at this information on decision making Realistic Medicine (nhsgrampian.org).

Health-check Information

During your assessment you may be asked about:

• Your activity and any physical and mental health problems you might have
• Any serious illnesses you have had
• Problems with previous anaesthetics
• Problems you know about when people in your family have had an anaesthetic
• Symptoms relating to the heart or lungs such as chest pain, shortness of breath, palpitations, or dizzy spells
• An accurate list of medicines that you take, including those you can buy over the counter and vitamins or herbal remedies is very important. Please bring with you either the pills themselves or a copy of your prescription from your GP
• Allergies and reactions (please bring any details you have of the name of the drug and the reaction, including any letters if you have any)
• Smoking habits and the amount of alcohol you drink and use of recreational drugs such as cocaine or marijuana, heroin or the so-called ‘legal highs’.

Making you as fit as possible for your operation

If your operation is not urgent, the anaesthetist or nurse at the pre-operative assessment clinic may talk to you about taking some time to improve your health. More tests may be needed, or some treatment may need to be started. They would do this working closely with your surgeon.

If you have decided to proceed to having surgery, you will have been given clear information on:

• Your proposed surgery
• How to prepare for your surgery
• Eating and drinking in the hours before your operation
• Taking your usual medicines before going into hospital
• What to bring with you into hospital?
• Whether you'll need to stay in hospital overnight and, if so, for how long

You will also be sent the following information by post:

• Ward information booklet
• Covid-19 information booklet
• Data form for updating next of kin with a pre-paid envelope
• Information on the patient hotel (if applicable)
• A letter and map detailing where and when to attend for your surgery