Hernia Op help!?

[May2023]

My OH has an inguinal hernia and has been referred, he has had a scan and has received an appointment letter to see a clinician, can anyone advise what will happen at this appointment and how long he will wait after this for the operation? What was the average time for people who have already had the surgery?

My DP recently had a hernia op.

Can't say wait times because it differs from trust to trust. DP was probably referred in 2020 and got an appt about 4 months later but didn't want it due to covid. They then offered him two more appts which he declined as he was scared to go into hospital because of covid. He got re referred by the doctors in Oct 2022 I think after it got bigger and he just had to bite the bullet. Offered him January but because of short notice he couldn't get time off work so they offered him February. He finally took that one and had it done.

Took about 3 weeks for him to feel fully healed. He had keyhole surgery.

Sorry forgot to say DP never saw a clinician he went in for 'pre op' to see the consultant. Think his pre op lasted 3 months so they wanted to get him in asap so they didn't have to do the pre op again.

The surgeon will take a history , examine him and assess if he meets the criteria for surgery. In many areas, hernias are deemed ‘low priority’ conditions and he may not be offered surgery.
If he is offered surgery he may be offered different types of surgery eg open or laparoscopic. There is no difference in outcomes unless this is redo surgery.
The waiting lists vary hugely between trusts but are typically longer than usual because of Covid and the strikes ( at least 6 months) .

Thank you for your replies. That’s what I was trying to get my head around if this appointment is his pre op and he would be offered the op fairly quickly after or if it was just an initial discussion with the surgeon as the letter doesn’t really specify.@PinkButtercups how soon was the op after the pre-op? Glad DP has made a speedy recovery.
Thanks @olympicsrock think he is hopeful for the keyhole option.

The following week he had his hernia op after pre op but the surgery was already booked in. Had to have the pre op before surgery again because his previous pre op was only valid for 3 months so ran out.