‘One stop shop’ for day surgery cases at Prince Charles Hospital
A new pre-assessment process is saving patients potentially weeks of waiting for a day surgery procedure after their initial consultation.
The pilot scheme, which started in March 2018, is being trialled in the day surgery unit at Prince Charles Hospital.
This ‘one stop shop’ is for patients who are being listed for surgery within the day surgery unit. The patients will be screened by a nurse on the day and, if deemed fit, listed for surgery. For those patients that require a pre-assessment, this will also be done on the same day, saving them a second visit to the hospital.
Historically the process for a patient who is listed for a day surgery procedure would have included an appointment to the hospital to complete a questionnaire regarding their history and health. The questionnaire would then need to be processed by the waiting list team or medical secretary who would then send out another appointment to the patient for a pre-assessment.
The majority of patients will not need to return to the hospital before their scheduled operation day as they will have all tests carried out at the ‘one stop shop’. This dramatically cuts down on waiting times for patients waiting for day surgery.
Martine Lawrence, day surgery unit manager at Prince Charles Hospital, said: “It’s great for patients that we can reduce the amount of hospital visits by compacting our service within the unit.
“We also embrace the ‘hello my name is’ campaign which means we introduce ourselves to patients, this helps patients feel more at ease and makes it easier when they come back for their day surgery as a familiar reassuring face helps eliminate stress post operatively.”
