We see patients who will be having a planned operation or procedure at Princess Royal University Hospital, Orpington Hospital or Queen Mary’s Hospital. We assess your fitness for surgery and provide the information you need to help you prepare for your operation or procedure.

Synopsis at Home Health Questionnaire

If you are referred to us, if applicable, we will send you a text message, email or letter with an electronic health questionnaire for you to complete. This health questionnaire must be completed for you to be given a date for your surgery and will take approximately 10 minutes to complete. Please note, if you do not require general anaesthetic you may not be required to complete the questionnaire.

You will be asked to sign up using your email address, where you will be given a verification code. If you are unable to complete the questionnaire within this time, please contact the surgical pre-assessment team using the contact details below. Once you have completed the questionnaire, you will receive an auto-generated email to confirm the submission.

You will be able to complete the questionnaire on a PC, tablet or smartphone. We suggest you use Safari, Microsoft Edge, Firefox or Chrome as your browser. The questions are mainly to be answered ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ with some minimal free text.

For medications or previous surgery please use the drop-down function to add your information. It is important to include as much information as possible. You can add as many lines as required.

When you have completed the questionnaire, please click on the green ‘Submit’ button at the very bottom of the page. This will let us know that you have completed the questionnaire.

If you need to make changes once the document is submitted, you can unsubmit the document by clicking on the ‘Submit’ button again and following the instructions. Please remember to submit the document again once you have made your changes.

After you complete and submit your health questionnaire it will be reviewed by a nurse in due course and you may be contacted for further information, or to attend a surgical pre-assessment appointment, as required.

If you have any queries or are unable to complete the form, please call us on 01689 866 355.

Before your appointment

• Check your appointment letter to see what you need to prepare for your appointment.
• Have a list of any current medications you take
• If you need to change or cancel your appointment, or you have any questions, phone admissions on the number provided on your letter.

If you do not attend your pre-operative assessment, it may delay your operation date.

Telephone appointments

If your appointment is by phone:

• please make sure you are in an appropriate place for discussing your medical history
• you will receive a text prior to the telephone assessment stating the time frame for the call, however, due to being unable to predict how long each call will take the appointment may be up to 1 hour earlier or later
• one of our nurses will call you, the call may appear with no caller ID
• it is possible the phone assessment will show you need to come into hospital for a routine test or a face-to-face assessment. If this happens, the nurse will arrange this for you during the phone call.

Face-to-face appointments

If your appointment is face to face at Orpington Hospital:

• your visit may include having tests, so please be prepared to spend up to two hours at your appointment
• if you have more complex medical conditions, you may be referred for an anaesthetic review. Your medical notes will be reviewed by an anaesthetist. Normally you will not need another appointment for this unless the anaesthetist needs more information. If they do need more information, they will arrange a phone or face to face appointment with you
• if you are not currently fit for surgery, you may be referred back to your GP
• we make every effort to ensure that patients are seen at their appointment time, however this is not always possible, as it is difficult to predict how long each patient will need to spend with the nurse.

Information on preparing for surgery

Pre-operative guidance and preparing for your surgery – PRUH – our leaflet about preparing for surgery

NHS website – Preparing for Surgery

Royal College of Anaesthetists website

Preparing for Surgery – Fitter Better Sooner – by the Royal College of Anaethetists

Location

Surgical pre-operative assessment clinic
Ground Floor, Pre-assessment clinic
Orpington Hospital
Sevenoaks Road
Orpington
Kent
BR6 9JU

See our Getting to Orpington Hospital page for travel information.

Pre-operative assessment clinics are clearly signposted from the main entrance.

Contact details

POA admin

Tel: 01689 866 355

Frequently asked questions

I have a question about my surgery, who do I speak to?

Your surgeon will be able to answer specific questions about your surgery, please call your surgeon’s secretary.

How long will my recovery be?

Your surgeon will be able to answer specific questions about your recovery post-surgery.

I’ve had my pre-operative assessment (POA), when will my surgery be?

Your POA can last up to 12 weeks and in some cases more. Please do not worry if you have had your POA and have not been contacted regarding surgery within this time. If your POA shows you are suitable for treatment you will be added to the waiting list for surgery and should be offered a surgery date within 12 weeks.

What happens if my surgery is postponed?

You may be asked to come back for a blood test or an MRSA test if your surgery is postponed. You will be contacted by the admissions team.

My clinical circumstances or health has changed, who do I contact?

If you are unsure if you are still able to go ahead with your surgery, please contact our admissions team on 01689 866 355.

I’ve changed my mind about surgery, who do I contact?

If you have changed your mind about having surgery, please contact our admissions team and let them know on 01689 866 355.

I’ve had my operation done privately, who do I contact?

If you have had your surgery somewhere else, please contact our admissions team and let them know on 01689 866 355.

I’ve changed my contact details, who do I tell?

If your contact details have changed, please inform our admissions team as soon as possible on 01689 866 355.

I’m a smoker, will this affect my surgery?

It is important you tell admissions and your pre-operative assessment nurse that you smoke. Smoking may affect your surgery. Smoking greatly increases the risk of complications during and after surgery. You can reduce this risk if you stop smoking as soon as possible before your operation. Evidence shows smokers who quit approximately 4 weeks or more before surgery have a lower risk of complication and better results 6 months afterwards. For more information, please see our Smoke-free King’s page.

I have diabetes or another chronic condition, will this affect my surgery?

If you suffer from any chronic conditions including diabetes, it is important you tell your pre-operative assessment nurse and surgeon. They will be able to provide you information on risks and considerations associated with these conditions and surgery.

I need a translator, who do I ask?

If you require a translator at any of your POA appointments or phone calls, please contact admissions on 01689 866 355.

I need help getting to my clinic, how can I request hospital transport?

To book transport, please contact the Patient Transport Assessment Centre a maximum of five days in advance and minimum of 24 hours before your appointment. For details, please see our patient transport page.