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Original poster

Can you go straight home after having GA? General Anaesthetic

224 replies

boysforyoueh · 23/01/2023 21:52

I'm due an op soon. It says 'you must' have someone with you to pick you up after surgery.

But I don't have anyone able to. H will be busy elsewhere. So I hope they don't cancel my surgery Sad simply because I have nobody

But my main question is, how soon after a short time under GA can you go home? Is it simply a case of blood pressure reading fine and then doing a wee? As they like to make sure you can wee

Can I just go after that? It'll have to be in a taxi but the booklet I've got is again saying you can't leave the ward alone

OP posts:
Outtasteamandluck · 24/01/2023 03:33

Just don't tell them until after surgery 🤷‍♀️

WilburTheIron · 24/01/2023 03:37

SockQueen · 23/01/2023 22:16

I know - I am too! The second paragraph was aimed at the OP but I forgot to @ her, sorry!

Show quote history

Anaesthetists on this thread are like:

😆

Can you go straight home after having GA? General Anaesthetic
LaughingLemur · 24/01/2023 03:41

I had day surgery recently and although they said beforehand that you needed to be picked up from the ward, in fact they just left me to leave by myself so I could easily have had a taxi waiting instead of DH.

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Original poster
boysforyoueh · 24/01/2023 03:45

talkingmorenonsense · 23/01/2023 22:41

Well @boysforyoueh if you lie and go home in a taxi, I hope you’re not poorly on the way home. Not for your sake but for the poor driver’s sake.

What do you think will be different about a neighbour or Good Samaritan I may or may not be able to find, vs a taxi? The worry is surely more someone there to keep an eye when I'm home, which there is

OP posts:
Original poster
boysforyoueh · 24/01/2023 03:47

IdisagreeMrHochhauser · 23/01/2023 23:44

They won't let you leave. I had an acquaintance pick me up as I literally had no one else. I was meant to stay at her house overnight but she had something come up so she just dropped me at home even though I was meant to be supervised overnight. As you can see, I didn't die.

Of course they will let you live. If you absolutely insist. They can't keep you against your will surely

OP posts:
Willdenytothedeath · 24/01/2023 03:49

So this discussion isn't about £120 for the taxis, but about £40 (if you were going to get the taxi there and back anyway).

For the sake of thr extra £40, I'd ask your partner and son to get the taxi up to you. Tbh with 2 of them, if they were to come to and wait, they'd easy/drink their way a reasonable amount of the £40 in the canteen stay anyway.

LovedFedAndNoonesDead · 24/01/2023 04:10

Reugny · 23/01/2023 22:09

They wouldn't discharge you.

They also phone the person before you go into theatre to check they are coming to pick you up

Show quote history

They didn’t the last twice I’ve had GA’s (December 21 and June 22). They’ve asked for the person’s contact number and how I know them (guessing that, if I’d not been fit for discharge they would have contacted them to say not coming home but wouldn’t give more details if, as was the case, it was a neighbour/friend rather than NOK) but, in one case they told me I was fit to go home and could I contact my lift. The other time they did call the person to say I was out of recovery and would be ready in xx hours to be collected.

Sammz21 · 24/01/2023 04:22

Hi
I had a small exploratory procedure recently, not a GA, but I was sedated.
The instructions were I had to have someone to pick me up.
My daughter was going to come with me and we were going to Uber home together (she doesn't drive) but she had Covid so she couldn't accompany me, though she could keep an eye on me when I got home.
When I explained the situation the nurse had to run it by the dr
It does feel quite sad when you say you have no one to help, but that's the reality sometimes, especially if you have just moved to a new area.
In the end I got an Uber home (the nurse took me down to the carpark when the Uber arrived)
Maybe you could suggest this as a compromise.
Good Luck!

Twiglets1 · 24/01/2023 04:31

My husband had a GA recently and he told them I would be collecting him
after work which was true. But they went ahead with the operation without knowing for sure that he had someone to collect him as I wasn’t physically there at the time & they didn’t contact me to confirm.
My point is - I would say you have someone to collect you and after the operation explain that you don’t as your husband has no one to leave disabled child with. You can get a taxi or they can keep you in overnight, their choice.

BrokenBonesStixStones · 24/01/2023 04:36

Could you opt for a different type of anaesthetic? I’ve had a few ops where I’ve opted for local or a Spinal Tap instead of general anaesthetic, because I’m scared of GA 😳 one plus side it was much quicker recovery time & less side effects.

MichelleScarn · 24/01/2023 04:41

whatwouldAnnaDelveydo · 23/01/2023 22:35

People will flame me here, but I would say my DH was going to pick me up, but he had a problem (baby sitter didn't show up, for example) and he couldn't come and collect me. And let the holpital find you a bed and deal with it - after the operation. It shouldn't be necessary to lie, but in the current situation I wouldn't risk saying anything before the operation.

What part of BED CRISIS do people not get?! And when that then affects the surgical list because there's not a bed for someone else to go to after their surgery who clinically needs it and the knock on effect for that?

LovedFedAndNoonesDead · 24/01/2023 04:43

@boysforyoueh, others have suggested contacting local volunteer organisations/GP to see if they have details for any volunteer driver organisations. Might also be worth asking the hospital transport department to see if they have any contact details. It’s so difficult when you’re the family driver and don’t have a support network to fall back on. I hope you can get it sorted x

In my dim distant past (like almost 25 years ago) I not only left hospital alone after a GA, I then got 3 buses home (a journey that took almost 2 hours). I simply self discharged as soon as I was able to get up and dressed - it helped that I knew the hospital didn’t actually have any overnight facilities so couldn’t have kept me overnight anyway. I don’t say that it was appropriate or a wise idea but it was what it was.

More recently, I now live fairly distant from the 2 hospitals where I’m under medical care - more than an hour by car, and maybe 2-3 by public transport - and I’m the only driver in the family (including extended family) so, unless I could find someone to get me there and pick me up afterwards, I would have to use volunteer driver services. There are 2 that cover our area to get to one hospital (don’t know about the other as it’s further away) as it’s such a known issue; they charge a fixed amount per mile from the volunteers home to you, then to the hospital; on the way back they charge the same again plus there is an admin fee that goes to the organisation.

I am due to have pretty major surgery sometime in the next 12 months (waiting lists and bed availability willing!!) and will have to discuss options with the hospital as, having moved house last year, I don’t know any of the neighbours well enough to ask them to do a 2 hour round trip twice to get me there and back and taxis would cost in excess of £90-120 each way which, as a family, we simply don’t have. Public transport would mean 2 buses and a train so is also not appropriate afterwards but might be an option if I’m on an afternoon list (but not for a morning one). It really is a worry.

WiddlinDiddlin · 24/01/2023 05:10

Ohhhhhhhh the fannying and faffing here..

Two options - tell them there is no one to bring or wait or collect you, but there is someone at home to watch you if you go home.

So your options are, drive yourself, stay in overnight if they don't think you're safe to drive home, go home the next day.

Or.

Have patient transport arranged to take you in and take you back to care of your DH later that day/evening.

Coffeecreme · 24/01/2023 05:21

can you ask hospital transport?

Nat6999 · 24/01/2023 05:23

I've had laparoscopic surgery for an ovarian cyst, went to theatre at 7.00pm, back on ward by 8.30pm & was on my way home by 9.45pm. If you have a taxi & there is someone to meet you at home they may let you go, they may just speak to whoever is at home to confirm they will be there.

Coffeecreme · 24/01/2023 05:23

you have to book patient transport 2 days in advance.

Twiglets1 · 24/01/2023 05:23

MichelleScarn · 24/01/2023 04:41

What part of BED CRISIS do people not get?! And when that then affects the surgical list because there's not a bed for someone else to go to after their surgery who clinically needs it and the knock on effect for that?

Show quote history

It’s pretty obvious that in reality they wouldn’t offer OP a bed. They would allow them a long recovery time and then accept that they will need to get a taxi home, which OP accepts the need to pay for. Maybe they will need to be escorted into the taxi.
Yes in an ideal world we would all have someone to collect us after a GA but it’s not an ideal world. That’s the part you’re not getting.

Nat6999 · 24/01/2023 05:28

Soontobe60 it does, I went to theatre at 6.00pm, back on ward by 8.00pm, on my way home before 9.ooam morning after. Keyhole hysterectomy.

cindybyrd547 · 24/01/2023 05:30

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Fraaahnces · 24/01/2023 05:38

The hospital has a duty of care for your safety on discharge. Some of the drugs they give you during a general anaesthetic can include ketamine and/or rohypnol which are common date rape drugs. There are many others that work in a similar manner. Allowing you to leave while vulnerable is not something they’re willing to risk. One of the reasons they can’t put you in a taxi is because you are at risk of being drowsy and also being in pain post-surgery means you have limited ability to fight someone off of they wanted to physically or sexually attack you. You can’t vouch for the driver and neither can they.

YearoftheRabbit23 · 24/01/2023 05:49

How long will you be under? I was feeling fine after my GA but was only under for 30 mins.

Can you book a taxi where the driver will come and collect you from the ward, maybe pay a little extra for this? And get dropped off at a neighbour or friends so they can watch you till husband comes home?

justgettingthroughtheday · 24/01/2023 05:55

They have let me leave in a taxi shortly after a GA twice in the last six months!
As long as I had someone at home waiting for me. Can't afford a taxi both ways!

Morph22010 · 24/01/2023 05:59

Outfor150 · 23/01/2023 22:22

Can you hire a carer as a one-off?

She can’t afford the extra £40 for her husband and child to make the extra taxi journey to collect a carer will be more

georgarina · 24/01/2023 06:00

I had GA twice and went home by myself both times - in fact they rushed me out of the recovery ward.

Ended up collapsing and being sick in the street the second time.

Thingshavebecomeweird · 24/01/2023 06:09

My friend collapsed 20 mins after leaving after a GA.l, saying she felt absolutely fine when she left. The nurse told hera surgeon of that clinic had driven themselves after a GA and collapsed and died. There are reasons.

Why not, of you genuinely have no friends or family at all. Put a message out on FB for help?