A day case patient will come into hospital, have their operation or treatment and go home the same day. The Trust has two day case units, one at Burnley General Teaching Hospital and one at Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital.
What to expect
It is natural for you to feel nervous about coming on to our unit, but please try not to worry, we will do everything we can to help make you feel at ease. Due to the wide-ranging specialities and types of surgery that pass through our day case units, you may have some time to wait before it is your turn to go down to theatre. Recovery time after your surgery and before you can go home will also vary; this can be as little as an hour or maybe as long as ten hours. Please be prepared for these different waiting periods.
If you are having a general anaesthetic or sedation, you must have someone to escort you home from the unit in a car or be able to accompany you in a taxi and also have a responsible adult to be able to stay with you overnight when you go home.
Admission Procedure
Please follow any instructions included in your admission letter. Every effort will have been made to give you sufficient notice of admission, but sometimes this is unavoidably short.
If you are unable to attend
If you are unable to attend for your procedure on the date specified, please inform the hospital immediately by telephoning the number on your letter so that arrangements can be made for another patient to be admitted in your place. Failure to inform us that you are not able to attend will result in your being discharged back to the care of your GP.
Relatives and Friends
It would be appreciated if only one person accompanies you when you are admitted to one of our day case units. This person will be asked to drop you off and then return later, when the nurse rings them to collect you and take you home. Limited seating is available for patients but relatives/friends may be asked to stand whilst waiting for you to be admitted.
Relatives are not able to stay with patients on our day case units as other patient's privacy and dignity must be taken into account at all times.
Additional support
If you require additional support whilst at our day case units, such as assistance due to a visual or physical impairment, please contact the relevant unit prior to your admission where possible.
What to bring
Please keep the items you bring to a minimum as we have very limited storage areas.
You may wish to use this checklist as a guide to the items you will need when attending the day case units:
- Slippers
- Reading material (you may have several hours to wait)
- Dressing gown
- Current medication and a written list of them
You may also like to bring aids to daily living e.g. walking sticks, spectacles, sanitary pads.
Personal possessions
You are advised to leave items of high monetary or sentimental value at home and only bring sufficient cash to cover the cost of newspapers, telephone calls etc. We also advise you to remove any items of jewellery and leave it at home.
The Trust cannot accept responsibility for cash or valuables brought to our day case units.
For accessibility information about our Surgical Day Case Unit at Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital please click the link below.
