To ask anyone in the NHS how day surgery lists are determined?

I hope you're trolling, it can't be real to be this stupid and horrible, frankly. Not hoping you wait all day starving then you get cancelled, but if it happens, I won't cry for you.

There are specific day surgery theatres, where different day surgery operations will happen. Yours is ENT so will be completed by an ENT doctor, there will be particular equipment needed and the theatre will be set up for ENT. There are some things that could be emergency or complex, more so than a 20-60 minute procedure.

With kindness most of the information you would like is irrelevant and of no interest to others. You will be on a list, you can eat and drink until midnight which could make tomorrow feel easier without being a glutton, the information about your wait will be given to you within a few hours of arrival. You will likely be sat in a chair in a room with curtains separating you from other people also on the list. When it’s your turn you will be collected and walk to theatre.

Well why don’t you ask the day surgery (in a polite and courteous way), rather than spiral on mumsnet.

Just remember that you’re lucky to have the NHS do this for free, none of the staff members are there to try and make your day difficult, and if you’re as rude as you have been on this thread you may be shown the door.

There are MANY reasons! You obviously have no clue!

it’s all me me me me me!

Latex allergy gets you at the top of the list in my local hospital.

And diabetes as already mentioned.

You sound so childish, tbh, so maybe you will be first! Jesus Christ, the entitlement! Plenty of people have explained how priorities are decided according to the cases and the surgery team. Of course we would all want to be first, done and dusted, but be mature for a second.
When I had a planned c-section, I also had to get there at 6am, nil by mouth. And I didn't give birth until 2.40pm because they were more complicated planned c-sections and some emergency, unplanned ones. Was I starving, yeah, but I was so, so, so grateful that I was a straight forward, fairly uncomplicated case that went smoothly. I wouldn't have wanted to swap just to be first. Stop being ridiculous.

You sound nasty, selfish, and idiotic to boot.
Can you honestly not imagine why someone sicker, more unstable or an emergency might trump your “simple operation”?

I do have sympathy with the OP’s predicamemt. I’ve been in a similar situation: I need a routine hysteroscopy every year because of genetic cancer risk, and I insist on a GA. However I am healthy and have no symptoms so (rightly) am given no priority on the day. However, for 3 years out of the last 5, they have kept me waiting from 7am to between 5 and 7pm (and I was ostensibly on the morning list too!) I usually drink 2 or 3 litres of water every day, and have no colon, so by 3pm my body thinks it’s a famine! Last year, I very politely asked whether I could reschedule rather than wait longer, because I was dehydrated and brewing a migraine that might preclude me from looking after disabled DS. I also reminded them that I had been 20 hours without food or water. They let me have a sip or two of water and - as if by magic - I was called next. This year, I was seen within about 1 hour - in fact called before I’d managed to get the comedy stockings on!

Honestly, OP - they will want to help, but you catch more flies with honey than vinegar! If you’re struggling to wait, throw yourself on their mercy and be v polite doing so. OTOH I’ve had the same procedure privately with almost no waiting around, so that’s the option if you can’t/wont wait. It’s purely a numbers game.

You’ve asked a question and people have answered it but the truth is nobody knows where in the list you will be. You’ve been rude and abrasive in your responses, said you’re going to walk out if you aren’t seen by 2pm and generally belittled/mocked the NHS and those who work for them. If you aren’t happy with the service you receive then go private. You will not be the only person on the list feeling anxious- it may do you well to remember that.

I have to say before you posted that update I was thinking you were being pretty ridiculous and entitled about all of this and basically expecting a private service for NHS money. But I actually can understand now looking through the lens of the needs of a potentially autistic person quite how you might find the waiting and lack of control over the timing of it and not being able to eat etc meantime completely intolerable and particularly anxiety-making way more than for the average person. So it really matters if they have this extra information that you may have autism and are extremely anxious over it all, as they should try much harder to help you through this.

I think it would have been a right mess if I was an afternoon one as it was over 8hrs (I was meant to be a day case!)

My ds ( 19) with autism & anxiety on his medical notes still had to wait 2 days. He didn't complain or get himself all worked up. I did wait with him the whole time as his mum. I still don't have any sympathy with the op. She's going to have to learn that the world doesn't revolve around her, autistic or not. Plus if she at some stage needs major surgery she will be grateful that she has a chance over relatively minor emergencies.

No OP they won’t, I’m a GP. Nobody is going to laugh at this.

They certainly should take this into account and they may or may not be able to move things around to accommodate you as best they can, but at the very least if you let them know you’re this anxious about it they can let you know exactly where you are on the list and what sort of time you’re likely to be take for surgery, and keep you specifically well informed in good time if anything changes.

I can guarantee you that not everyone on a day surgery case list is worrying to this extent about exactly where they are on the list so honestly it’s not this much of an issue for the average person exactly what time their surgery is. I’d say for the majority of people they just want it done and the main worry would be about the surgery potentially being cancelled due to over-running on other cases.

That can of course feed in to some extent as to your position on the list, but for example when I recently had to have my gallbladder removed as a day case I couldn’t have cared less whether I was first, last, whatever, as long as it finally got done (it was cancelled twice before, once due to junior doctor strikes and the second time because of overrunning of another complex case). And when I had a carpal tunnel release as a day case I also couldn’t have cared less what slot I was in, it also wouldn’t have been the end of the world for me even if it was cancelled and rescheduled, though would have been a bit annoying as I had arranged work commitments around it etc. Though in that case I wasn’t fasting as I had that one under spinal block not general anaesthetic.

Do tell them how anxious the not knowing what to expect especially time-wise and potentially not being able to eat for a prolonged period is making you.

😂👍🏼

I think the lists are a bit of a lottery to be honest. You don't know that you're going to be kept waiting til 6pm though OP. I sat until 2.30pm for my day surgery as a fit woman. My poor old elderly father with cancer had day surgery and wasn't operated on until 5.45pm. They told him at 4pm they were going to be late and to come back the next day but he said no I'm not bloody leaving! It's not great but sadly that's how the NHS often is :(

You are awful. It doesn’t matter that you ‘may be autistic’- that’s an explanation for some of your behaviour but it isn’t an excuse. You are belittling others who have been in your situation because they aren’t telling you what you want to hear. I get being stressed and anxious but you are working yourself up at the moment over nothing because you have no idea where in the list you will be. Get some humility and hopefully you’ll be nicer to the doctors and nurses you come across tomorrow than you have been on here tonight. My god.

OP try and take deep breaths. Distract yourself. It is very likely that this time tomorrow the OP will be over, wherever you are on the list.

I think sometimes you have to put your big girl pants on and understand everyone is nervous and hungry. Everyone wants to get it done and out the way. You are no different, you aren't special and you will get seen when you get seen. You need to either accept that, cancel or go private.

In day surgery there will be many surgeons doing different surgeries. You will be on a specific list. Surgeons do one of two things, bring people in altogether and do all the paperwork etc once or bring in the two sessions at different times.

I was brought it at 7am for surgery and was on the pm list. I was allowed water and I went to surgery at about 4pm. I was sat in an uncomfortable chair with a back condition for hours until I was in agony and they found me a bed to wait in. The nurses were unimpressed with the surgeon getting everyone in at once; but the surgeon had had many afternoon slots wasted by people coming late, not fasted or having insufficient time to do paperwork meaning they couldn’t do the work.

when you arrive they should be able to tell you where you are roughly on the list, but until everyone has been seen things can and do change.

tell them how anxious you are, if everyone is as able to wait and there are no implications to waiting, they may be able to get to you sooner.

everyone will be working hard to keep you and all the other patients safe and comfortable.

Or you could say that you are waiting for an assessment for autism and are very anxious about the procedure.

This, there was one patient before me once as they also had a latex allergy. Turned out they had eaten an egg for breakfast so their operation was cancelled as they can’t operate on those of us with latex allergies later. Meant everyone else was done faster