Patient Education
Preparation Guides
Honest, plain-language guides to the pre-operative pathway. Each explains what happens and why, what is genuinely in your hands, what is decided by your own surgical and anaesthetic team, and the safety questions worth asking before the day of your operation.
All Guides
11 guides to preparing for surgery
- The Pre-Operative Assessment: What Is Tested and WhyAssessment
- Medication Before Surgery: The Classes That MatterMedication
- Smoking and Surgery: Why Stopping Changes the OutcomeSmoking
- Alcohol and Recreational Drugs: What Your Team Needs to KnowSubstances
- Food and Drink Before Anaesthesia: Why Fasting Rules Are Not NegotiableFasting
- Preparing Your Skin and Hair for the Operating TheatreSkin and Hair
- Blood Tests, Cross-Matching and Planning for TransfusionBlood and Transfusion
- Planning Your Recovery Before the OperationRecovery Planning
- The Day of Surgery: What to Bring and What to Leave BehindDay of Surgery
- Why Surgery May Be Postponed or CancelledPostponement
- Getting Mentally Ready: Expectations, Consent and Questions to AskMental Preparation
Start with the assessment, not the date
Reach out to arrange a pre-operative assessment. We will explain which tests you need and why, go through every medicine and supplement you take, and set out what has to happen before the operation can safely go ahead. If something needs to change first, we would rather find it now than on the morning of surgery.