Outpatient at Kings, any advice?

[helenma]

My 11 month old son will be having outpatient surgery at Kings next week. I'm not sure what to take, my own bottles, milk, food etc etc?

If anyone has any advice/hints/tips let me know.

Thank you

[Pickle]

My son had an outpatient operation there when he was about 17 months old. Yes - take all your own food/drinks etc. We were impressed by the organisation and the day went smoothly for us despite the obvious stresses of having a child in surgery (albeit minor). Back then (he's 6 now) they took the children from youngest upwards, so you stand a good chance of being seen early in the day at 11 months - on the day we were 2nd on the list.

I seem to remember having a pre-op appointment before the day where they explained the process, have you not been offered one? Things may have changed, and I guess it depends what's being done.

I hope it all goes well.

P x

[Bidibulle]

My little boy had outpatient surgery at King's just before Xmas last year, he was 21 months old. We were booked for afternoon surgery and went there for 12.00. When you arrive you are taken to the outpatient ward and are given a bed (separated by a curtain). There is a play area with books and toys and a tv on the ward. For the afternoon "session",my son had to stop eating from 7.30am and no drink from 11.00am.

Like Pickle said they try to take children from youngest upwards but when we were there we went to theatre at 3.15pm and a couple of older children went before us and a baby was still waiting when we left. I suppose it also depends on the type of surgery the children are having.

After the operation, the child has to drink and eat before being discharged. The child will not be discharged until the nurses are satisfied that the child can hold his food down. We had brought some food with us but the nurses also offered to get my son a sandwich.

I would advise to take some toys your son likes to keep him occupied. We were lucky that our son fell asleep soon after we arrived on the ward as I am not sure I would have been able to keep him entertained for that long.

On the ward, we were told to undress our son to his nappy and get him to wear the hospital gown - the ward is very warm. They also got him a wristband with his name and hospital number.

The anaesthetist and doctor came to explain to us the operation and we had to sign some consent forms.

The nurses were all very nice and patient with the children. My son did not let the nurse take his temperature - clip on his finger- but she did not insist or force him to do anything.

Again as Pickle said everything will be explained to you at the pre op appointment.

For us everything went quite smoothly and we were able to go home 1hour after my son came out of the recovery room.

Good luck for next week

[helenma]

Thank you Pickle and Bidibulle.

We were due to have a pre op appointment later on in the month, but they had a cancellation for next week, so we thought that it's better to get it done sooner rather than later!

Hopefully it will all goes well

xx

[Carbonara]

Good luck - it won't be as bad as you fear, young children generally sail through minor surgery.

Do take all your usual bottles, nappies, wipes, etc, they don't provide anything, really. And take something for you to eat once your son is in the operating theatre. I find it helps with the starving them not to eat and drink in front of them, but once he is asleep you can go into the Reception area or outside and have a snack. They won't let you eat on the ward because of other children not allowed food.

They will ask you to accompany your child into the theatre and hold him while they do the anaesthetic. They will wave a mask under his nose for a bit to make him a bit sleepy and then get him to breathe from the mask. This can be distressing, but the more they struggle the quicker they go to sleep because they breathe more in. It takes about 5 seconds and feels like 10 minutes.

Once the procedure is done they will ask you to go into the recovery bay while he wakes up.

They are very experienced and make it all very problem free for you.

[Bidibulle]

Just a few comments regarding Carbonara's post:

1) " they wont let you eat on the ward because of the other children not allowed food" : When we were waiting for our turn on the ward, the children who already had their surgery were eating next to us, which I thought was a bit difficult for the other children who were still not allowed to eat/drink.

But I agree even if you're allowed to eat on the ward, it is better to go out for coffe/snack and time will go quicker than waiting anxiously on the ward.;-) There is a Costa Coffee in the Golden Jubilee wing, just opposite the outpatient building.

2) " once the procedure is done they will ask you to go into the recovery bay while he wakes up": parents were not allowed to go to the recovery bay. Nurses were bringing the children back to the ward once they had woken up in the recovery room. Our son's procedure took only 15 minutes but he was brought back on the ward when he was awake, 50 min after he had gone to theatre.

Once again I would like to stress that all the staff there was absolutely lovely and very supportive.

[Health Involvement]

We just wanted to let you know that our consultation on health services in Dulwich and the surrounding areas is now under way.

This formal public consultation, which asks for your views on which community-based health services should be available to local people and how they should be delivered, runs until 31 May 2013.

You can download the consultation document at: www.southwarkpct.nhs.uk, or request a hard-copy from [email protected] (Tel: 0808 178 9055)

As part of the consultation there are two public meetings and a number of drop-in sessions for a conversation or to give your views. These are below:

PUBLIC MEETINGS (book in advance on the website)

St Barnabas Church, Calton Avenue,

London, SE21 7DG

Tuesday 30 April in the evening from 19:00

Wednesday 22 May in the afternoonf rom 14:00

DROP INS (just turn up)

Cambridge House

1 Addington Square, Camberwell,

London SE5 0HF

Tuesday 19 March 2013 from 10:00 to 12:30

Peckham Library

122 Peckham Hill Street, SE15 5JR

Friday 22 March 2013 from 14:00 to 16:30

Gaumont House Surgery

153 Peckham High Street, Peckham, SE15 2AU

Wednesday 1 May from 10:00 to 12:30

Dulwich Community Hospital

East Dulwich Grove, Dulwich, SE22 8PT

Wednesday 8 May 2013 from 18:00 to 20:00