Lancashire Elective Surgical Unit (LESU)
For most patients, their first point of contact on the day of surgery is the Lancashire Elective Surgical Unit (LESU). This is located on the ground floor, close to the Rosemere Unit and adjacent to the Magentic Resonance Imaging (MRI) department.
Most patients are asked to come to LESU in the early morning, but some may be asked to come in a bit later. (Follow the instructions provided by your preoperative assessment nurse and your surgery team.)
On arrival at LESU, you will be assessed by the LESU team, who will get you ready for surgery. You will also speak to your named anaesthetist (and / or their trainees) and the surgeons (and / or their trainee).
In LESU, consent is usually completed or confirmed again if previously done. If everyone is happy for the procedure to go ahead - as happens in the majority of cases - final preparations are made, and you will be sent to the theatre.
Theatres
In the theatres, you are first taken to the anaesthetic room usually where appropriate checks are done. In the absence of any further clarifications, the anaesthetic process will be started according to discussions had during the consent process in the preoperative assessment clinic and / or DOSA. After anaesthesia, the surgery proceeds after additional checks in the theatre.
Anaesthetics
As discussed with you during the perioperative assessment, the anaesthetist team will be responsible for pain control and for putting you to sleep during the surgery. It can be in form of General anaesthesia, regional anaesthesia, Nerve blocks or sedation. The process starts from consent, confirming consent and procedures in the anaesthetic room, anaesthesia proper, monitoring during surgery and care and recovery from anaesthesia. After the surgery, most patients are taken to recovery to ensure continued recovery from anaesthesia. In some instances, you can be taken to critical care unit/High dependency unit for continued support and ongoing recovery.
Recovery
After Surgery, you will be taken to the recovery room to help you recover from anaesthesia. You will be in the care of recovery nurses who will help you throughout this stage. After a period, provided you meet some criteria set to ensure you are okay, you will be transferred to the ward to continue your recovery.
Day Case procedures
If you have been told that your surgery is a day case procedure, you will be sent to the ward from the recovery ward. You will be checked to make sure you are safe enough to be discharged from the hospital and presence of an adult at home to help you on the night of the surgery at home amongst other criteria. Once the ward staff are satisfied, you will be discharged home with written instructions on what to do.
Inpatient Procedures
For a significant number of people, they get to stay in the hospital after the surgery up to a few days. This is to monitor and guide recovery after surgery. You will be sent to one of our numerous surgical wards for continued care
We can ask for a friendly ward to do a video on recovery of patients after surgery and inpatient care.
HDU
As previously mentioned, you can be planned for elective admission to High dependency unit (HDU). This usually would have been discussed with you prior to surgery. Admission to HDU is to help ensure more intense monitoring and higher nursing care support.
