"Nice little operation they have here"

Anything else?

Had a short stay at the day surgery unit at Crawley this week and was fairly satisfied overall. The whole process is very stream lined. Had a pre-op assessment at E Surrey just after Xmas and was admitted to Crawley early morning mid-Feb. it seemed there were a number of surgeons lists in operation that day and each list seemed to have its own team of staff dealing with it. My surgeons team seemed slightly less efficient than some of the others.

At the pre-op assessment I was told not to bring an iPod with me - just a book. Fortunately I ignored this piece of sage advice and rightly too. There was no issue using an iPod. Before I went to theatre I stuck it at the bottom of my bag and it survived there whie I was in theatre.

The reason I decided to ignore the advice was that the advice wasn't repeated in any of the copious notes and leaflets I received before admittance. In fact neither the Day Surgery Unit nor Crawley Hospital were mentioned in the standard admissions booklet. The documentation quality was very poor, with most of it being multi-generational photocopied photocopies. None of it seems to be available online.

All the staff I dealt with were extremely friendly, personable and, on the whole, competent. Only one came across as slightly stressed, which may be a regular thing or my be a one off.

I was fortunate that my operation didn't require a full GA, just a nerve block on the arm and some sedation. I was admitted at 8 am, went down to theatre before noon, back on ward by 1.30 and headed home by 3.

All in all very worthwhile and pleasant stay. Just improve the information provision.