Returning to your room
You will then return to your room where your nurse will observe your vital signs every 15 minutes until it is clearly safe to extend this period. She will have placed the nurse call button in your hand and it is essential that if you require anything at all you press it and she will come very quickly.
Once you are fully awake you will be able to have some food and drink but we would normally recommend the light menu as most people are not able to cope with a heavy meal at this stage.
It is important to strictly limit visitors to the immediate family in the first few hours post-operatively as most patients are not up to coping with large numbers of different people.
Your consultant will normally visit you once a day during your stay and the Resident Medical Officer will be aware of your progress by regularly reviewing your notes with the nursing staff.
Physiotherapy
Physiotherapy treatments may be necessary during your stay and where possible the physiotherapist or physiotherapy helper will escort you across to the physiotherapy department where you will work in the gym. Alternatively you may be treated in your room.
Food and drink
No food or drink can be taken before surgery, but after full recovery you may select your meals from our varied menu.
On awakening in the morning patients are offered a beverage and biscuits and breakfast is served around 7.30 am, lunch is served at 12.30 and dinner at 6.30 pm with morning coffee and afternoon tea at 11.00 am and 3.00 pm respectively.
We cater for all diets including ethnic ones, but naturally notice will need to be given in this case.
Hot beverages are available free of charge to patients and their visitors, and meals are available to visitors at a charge. Please refer to the Refreshment & Wine List in the room for the full range of items available and charges.
We are justifiably proud of our catering service but it is important to bear in mind that whilst we serve only fresh and good quality food, we are not a hotel and therefore cannot cater in quite as individual a way as such establishments as we are restricted to some extent by regulations concerning the use of products containing eggs and in the way that we are allowed to present certain foods.
It is very important that patients bear in mind that if anything is not to their liking they must ask to see the chef who will discuss their requirements with them. The chefs would rather do this than have patients receive food with which they are not entirely satisfied.
