Before you’re admitted to hospital
We will send you a letter to confirm when you should arrive for your stay at one of our hospitals.
This will include details such as the date you will be admitted to hospital, information on which of our London hospitals you will be having your operation or medical treatment at and where you need to go on arrival.
You may need to telephone the hospital admissions office to confirm that a bed is available for you.
Please follow the instructions in the letter. Sometimes hospital patients are admitted to a different ward from the one stated in the letter, so please check which hospital ward you’ll be on before telling any visitors.
Things you’ll need: staying at our London hospitals
All hospital patients must bring the following items with them. Before you leave check that you have:
- Your hospital admission letter
- The name and address of your doctor (GP)
- Your full postcode
- All the medicines that you take
- Details of any community services you use, such as district nurses or social workers. This is to help us organise your discharge from hospital
What to pack before admission to hospital
On admission to hospital, you should have the following things with you:
- Night clothes
- Slippers
- Brush and comb
- Shaving equipment
- Toothbrush and paste
- Soap and shampoo
- Flannel and towel
Some hospital patients like to bring tissues, writing paper, books, pens, personal stereos and loose change for newspapers. These can be very useful if you are going to spend some time in the hospital ward.
Items patients are asked not bring to hospital
Please do not bring the following items to our hospital wards:
- Valuables – jewellery, chequebooks or credit cards
- Large amounts of money
- Large amounts of food
- Clothes other than those listed above
- Alcohol or tobacco products*
- Portable televisions or radios
If there is an item you wish to keep safe and you need to leave the hospital ward for a test, please ask a nurse to take them. Our hospital staff will keep them somewhere safe.
The Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust will not accept responsibility or liability for any lost or damaged patients property, under any circumstances, unless it has been handed in and signed for by a member of hospital staff.
*Advice for smokers
We are a smoke-free trust and smoking and vaping are not permitted on our grounds. If you smoke and would like some support to stop smoking while you are an in-patient, please ask your doctor to refer you to our friendly and supportive stop smoking team. Find out more about our stop smoking service.