A pre-operative assessment is performed on all our patients who are going to have a procedure or operation performed under general, spinal or sedation. 

Your assessment happens after you and your surgeon have decided a surgical procedure is necessary. 

You will either see a nurse, or a nurse and a consultant anaesthetist. 

You will also have an appointment with our health care assistant (HCA) and be asked detailed questions about your health and any medications you take.

During the pre-assessment appointment with our HCA, you may be asked to have routine observations taken, such as your blood pressure, heart rate and temperature check, blood, swabs and urine tests, and electrocardiogram (ECG). 

Additional tests might be ordered by our consultant anaesthetists, which you might need to attend later.

You should allow at least two hours for your entire pre-operative assessment appointment. 

We offer different types of pre-assessment appointments, including telephone or face-to-face appointments, dependent on your medical history and type of surgery planned.

Patients are referred via our outpatients department.

The two websites below have patient resources you may find useful: