Once you have been admitted to your room you will be visited by your anaesthetist who will discuss the plans for your anaesthetic and post operative care and pain relief. Please discuss with your anaesthetist any concerns you may have about the anaesthesia and postoperative pain control.

Mr Malik will also see you in your room prior to surgery and mark the limb (to ensure the correct side is operated on). Mr Malik will also go over the details of the operation once again, outlying the intended benefits and the potential complications. The postoperative regime will also be discussed and any questions answered.

A nurse from the ward will accompany you to the operating theatre. On arrival in the anaesthetic room you are “checked in” by the Operating Department Practitioner (ODP) who is a trained assistant for the anaesthetist. We will then apply monitoring equipment, which is used to ensure your safety throughout the operation and insert a cannula (a ‘drip’) into your veins.

Once the anaesthetic has been started and you are asleep, you are moved through connecting doors into the actual operating theatre. If you are having an injection or a procedure under sedation you will go directly into theatre and be asked to lie down on the operating table. You will then have your anaesthesia or sedation.

Your anaesthetist will stay with you throughout the whole operation. With the help of the monitors we make continual adjustments to the levels of anaesthetic and pain control you are receiving. Several other kinds of medicines may be required as well, such as anti-nausea drugs, antibiotics to prevent infection, muscle relaxants, and drugs to stop your blood pressure from getting too high or too low. The anaesthetist controls and balances all of these. We also make sure that any fluid lost from your body, such as blood loss and dehydration, is replaced through an intravenous drip.

At the end of your surgery you will be transferred to the recovery room, where you will stay until you are more awake and we know that you are comfortable. Your anaesthetist hands over your care to a trained recovery room nurse, but we continue to be directly responsible for you until you are well enough for a ward nurse to accompany you back to the ward.