Covid test before surgery

[Poyyu23]

My 4 year old DD is having surgery and the hospital insist she comes in three days beforehand when a nurse Will do a PCR test on her. My DD is traumatised from these tests having to do so many beforehand. I know her and she will freak out and we will have to restrain her and even that might not work. These is causing me more concern than surgery. Does anyone have any experience in arguing against these? For the reference it’s at the Portland hospital

Mine are adults but no child of mine would be subjected to that.

How important is the surgery?

Tbh they wouldn't give surgery if you had any kind of respiratory infection was what I was told before mine. There are risks due to the general anaesthetic.

Adenoids and tonsils out. She desperately needs it as can’t sleep at night - sleep apnea.

Ultimately, I think the risk of her being upset for a bit is outweighed by the risk of surgical complications due to COVID. I would just get it done. It’s just a tickle up the nose. I let mine either do it themselves or I do it and let them know they can tell me to stop whenever they want so it’s not a scary thing for them.

But the test is 3 days before surgery. She can get Covid the day before! They want to do a throat swab too…

Don’t be daft, it’s just a bit of cotton wool up their nose.
she’ll be fine, it’s 30 seconds.

I imagine you’ll have to isolate after the test until the surgery.

Apparently you don't...not mentioned at all

Dc3 was due an op last month and had to have a PCR. Op was cancelled as turns out he did have COVID.
He’s 7 though, so a bit older than your dd, so was ok having the test. The nurse was really lovely though and I would imagine they are used to children not wanting the tests. There really was a lot of screaming from the car in front 😢 , which isn’t what you want for your dd, when you’re preparing your child for surgery and trying to keep them calm ready for that.
I’d ring up now and explain the situation and see what they suggest. They might have some distraction techniques they can use??
We'd done LFTS at home that week as he’d had a cough and cold, and all were negative, and still got a negative when his PCR positive result came through, so they might not allow you to do an LFT at home yourself.
I hope you resolve it, so it doesn’t cause your dd any upset.

That's an error, your child should be isolating for 72hrs preop, starting just after the PCR.

You're not going to be able to argue against it, so don't go there.
It's being done for a very valid clinical reason.

Agree with Daisy, they will be used to doing tests on children and will have techniques to minimise the discomfort. Worth having a chat with them about it. It's pretty important to keep covid out of hospitals as much as we are able to, for lots of reasons, so go with it if you can. Are there any ways you can help her prepare for this or treats you can buy her as a reward once it's done?

Nope not in my hospital. Rules changed last week.

Ours have to do a LFT prior to admission and bring proof of a negative result.

No isolation is required but is recommended

Whilst the rules have also changed in my hospital, if you’ve been asked to go 3 days before then they will be expecting her to isolate until her surgery to limit the risk of her catching covid in between.
it can be very dangerous to have a general anaesthetic if you have covid and also if she does get covid they won’t do her surgery for at least 7 weeks after due to the effects it can have with the anaesthesia

Even if we isolate we have to get to the hospital somehow. We don’t have a car and can’t walk there. Triple vaccinated and after having Covid twice I am all for safety, but a Covid test 3 days before doesn’t make too much sense.

Its pretty standard still. My 3yo hates it, but its part of hospital admissions at the moment I think. Bribery, distraction and them being quick helps.

Our pre admission one at the weekend was done with her still in her car seat, which makes it quicker as she's strapped in.

With omicron, as we are all well aware, we can all get it so easily. She can catch it in the hospital too before surgery. In fact I wasn’t too impressed with their safety procedures. Many visitors at the consultation building wore no masks, neither did many staff. No checking temperature, no hand cleaning. But I will double check with them regarding the isolation and Covid and anaesthetics. That’s a good point. We will probably have to do it.

My son had his tonsils and adenoids out a fortnight ago. I was absolutely dreading the Covid test but strangely, he sat there like the best little boy and let the nurse do it. If I'd have done it, he'd have screamed the place down!

Refuse the throat swab. I did. I said I didn't consent and they could do the nose only.

This is the same reason DS had his out a fortnight ago. Along with gagging, choking, vomiting frequently.

I'm pleased to say that he is now sleeping like an angel and no longer sounds like a tractor.

They were quite clear with us that DS had to isolate after the test. Though, we didn't, because his operation was cancelled twice the day before, meaning on two occasions he'd isolated for 3 days, missing nursery, causing a loss of £300 and very disturbed work for us, so by the third date I didn't trust it would go ahead and sent him to nursery.

Can you ask to do a home test if it’s absolutely necessary? I agree with you that it seems a silly rule considering she could catch anything in the time after the test.

As an aside, both my boys had adenoids and tonsils removed at the Portland for the same reason. It was very good and the difference was dramatic. Good luck to your DD.

We had to do one and lost it and Isolate 3 days before surgery. My DD is 2.5 and that was for a tonsillectomy and grommets inserted, I just get a cotton bud and she does it to one of her baby dolls then I do it to her. I keep it really calm and explain why I'm doing the PCR test and try not to make a big deal out of it, ultimately she hates it but like your DD mine has sleep apnea and stops breathing when she has a cold and is asleep so a PCR is the lesser of two evils. Good luck with her surgery, keep up with the strict drug regime its tedious but worse if you don't keep up with it for the first 10 days :)

@iRun2eatCake
No 2 hospital Trusts are the same. The rules did change last week in terms of swabbing arrangements, which now parents have to facilitate. However the 72 hr preop isolation rule for children remained unchanged.

I've just had an op. Had a pcr 72 hrs before then isolated until the op. Went in a taxi. The driver put a mask on for me and I wore mine. Because covid can cause breathing issues it makes anaesthetic more risky.
The nurse did my pcr. She didn't shove it up my nose as far as I had been when i do my own. Very gentle with it too.