This service operates within the national 18 week referral to treatment pathway. This means that once your referral is received you will be expected to have your treatment/surgery within 18 weeks. It is therefore important that before your GP refers you, you can commit to any treatment/surgery within this timeframe.
In order for this to take place it is important that you understand the implications this may have in the weeks and months following your surgery.
Generally, for most procedures, patients are required to rest with limited activity ( i.e. moving around to use the bathroom and little else) for the first 2 weeks following surgery. During this period we request that you do not bath or shower due to the infection risk if the dressing becomes wet.
You will then gradually return to normal activities over the next 4-6 weeks.
Usually patients require this total length of recovery time absent from work to enable recovery (i.e. 6-8 weeks).
It is important that you have no long haul flights booked within 4-6 weeks either before or after any surgery date due to the risk of DVT.
As surgery at Holme Valley is provided on a day case basis, we request that you have appropriate support at home for at least the first 48 hours following surgery.
All Surgery is performed under a local anaesthetic and therefore you will be awake during the procedure. You can bring in any personal music player to listen to in the theatre area, if you wish, and a member of staff is always present to provide support throughout.
It is important, to avoid delays for other patients, that you have someone available to collect you to take you home immediately following surgery. We usually request that they are no more than 15 minutes away from the hospital.
Following any surgery you will be expected to return to the department for your wound redressing. You must have appropriate transport to get you to and from your appointment. We strongly advise that you do not use public transport. If you do not have transport, your GP may be able to arrange this for you.
Specific information relating to your surgery will be provided following your initial assessment.
