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

[ScuderiaSedici]

As above

Op breath it's going to be ok go on the day and go with the flow. You will be ok.

I’m not “going with the flow” - this is surgery not a fucking party! They should be more organised than this. If this is so changeable, what means my operation won’t just get cancelled.

So why if you are likely to not be seen before 4 pm do you need to arrive at the hospital at the crack of dawn?

if lists are run like that and patients come in at staggered start times you can’t book so many cases on and the waiting lists increase because the anaesthetist and surgeon have to leave theatre to see each patient as they arrive and then team brief individually before starting each case. It’s also economically ridiculous to have so much theatre down time with all the scrub staff twiddling their thumbs and the theatre ventilation turning over idly etc etc. Even in the private sector lists don’t run like that.

list ordering is complex and occasionally unpredictable. You have no idea where on the list you’re going to be so you’re getting in a tiz over something that’s quite likely to not be a problem.

you still don’t need to be fasted as long as you’re going to be - you are making that choice by not eating an evening meal.

Exactly. If im going to be at the bottom of the list, tell me to come in at midday!

You were lucky to get a bed. When I was in for day surgeryit was an uncomfortable chair in a waiting room with no wifi signal

I’ve eaten dinner. But the point still stands - patient comfort should be priority, no?

It’s such a shame isn’t it? We’re treated like an inconvenience

The patient's safety is the first priority.

When is your procedure?

DS aged 1 was first on the list in Children's day surgery, but none were done until after lunch.
DS age 24 has just had orthopedic surgery on his broken foot. Went in at 10.30, was told it would be after lunch, ended up having surgery at. 5pm. Discharged himself at 8 as didnt want to spend any more time on Ortho ward.

its a hospital not a spa. Safety is fundamental. Most HCPs do try to make a hospital visit for any reason as comfortable as possible, but it’s a limited system where you literally can’t have every patient in theatre at the same time and there has to be some pragmatic decision making. Every individual patient is going to be thinking about themselves because that’s human nature, but the HCPs have to think about how to get the greatest number of patients looked after safely and sometimes that means some inconvenience. If you’re not first on the list then ask them for some squash or water so you’re not dehydrated.

Why do you keep saying you'll be there until 6pm when you're on a morning list? Yes, lists sometimes run over but not to that extent, if there was that big an issue you'd be more likely to be cancelled than delayed by that long. Your surgeon will likely have other commitments scheduled for the afternoon and the theatre will have an afternoon list planned.

So to make us as safe as possible, they make us all starve ourselves!

When I had cataracts done it was oldest first. However the oldest actually have testes positive for mrsa so had to go last as study had to vent the room afterwooods before anyone else could use it

so could depend on anything

As I’ve been told multiple times, I’ll be last on the list. That’ll be a 6-7pm theatre slot.

Not for a morning list

@ScuderiaSedici you appear to be overwhelmingly self centred & self-obsessed. Please go private next time to spare everyone your woes? Oh wait, you will find it's not much better there either. And it may well be less safe.

If it’s a quick case and the others are complex. You might be done first. Or if you are a day case and the other aren’t. I wish it was true that kids went first. They don’t always but ours usually have their own paeds lists.

Well then don’t starve yourself and just eat, then if you have food in your stomach during an op then that’s the risk you take eh??

How kind of you

Because these things are unpredictable and can change on the day. Say the first patient on the list is having a procedure expected to last 4 hours, but they come in and they’ve accidentally taken their blood thinner, or they mention they are a bit breathless and staff do an ECG and their heart is suddenly in a funny rhythm, or for whatever reason their operation has to be cancelled because it’s not safe for them to have it. If all the other patients aren’t coming in until later, you end up with a slot going wasted and an empty theatre and a team twiddling their thumbs until the next patient arrives, which isn’t an effective use of resources.

I appreciate it’s anxiety provoking, uncomfortable, boring etc etc to be kept waiting, and it might not always seem like it on the other side but there are generally good reasons why lists are done in a particular order.

OP you’ve expected empathy and grace for yourself due to being anxious and stressed, but have been spectacularly rude to a poster who has shared experiences of her own sick child and dismissive of knowledgable posters who have explained calmly and kindly why things are as they are. Someone has to go last, surely you can see that safety of other patients trumps your own comfort?

I guarantee that every other patient on the list is also anxious and stressed. If you feel like this, imagine how the patients with medical complexities undergoing more difficult procedures might feel?

Then the simplest way to do it is put the healthy, simple procedures first.

Maybe ask them to carry out a personality transplant at the same time.