Medical law Scotland - Pre-op surgery... Info needed

[J381]

I'm looking for info on procedural guidelines on pre-op surgergy in Scotland (if there is such a thing).

In other words, I'm looking for something along the lines of; "... a pre-op meeting/consultation must be carried out with the patient informing them of possible outcomes prior to surgery."

Obviously that is in my words (no medical knowledge, clearly!)

Thanks in advance.

[douglasr]

There is a procedure I’ve experienced and I have been treated in Edinburgh each time.

I've had major surgery 5 times in 11 years in Scotland. The procedure has always been the same. Prior to each operation I was given a pre-op assessment by a specialist nurse where height, weight, blood pressure, various other things were checked. It was OK for me to have surgery each time.

Prior to the op (the same day, a few days or a couple of weeks) I would see the the surgeon to discuss the risks, ask questions and sign the consent form.

Came across this.. http://www.nhsforthvalley.com/forthvalleyroyal/mul...

No idea if its a legal requirement, but I would imagine it would open a can of worms if not followed.

[Mojooo]

its called a pre op assessment - as above I have had the same multiple times.

[The_Doc]

J381 said:

I'm looking for info on procedural guidelines on pre-op surgergy in Scotland (if there is such a thing).

In other words, I'm looking for something along the lines of; "... a pre-op meeting/consultation must be carried out with the patient informing them of possible outcomes prior to surgery."

Obviously that is in my words (no medical knowledge, clearly!)

Thanks in advance.

There are two things being talked about here. 1) Consent and 2) Pre-assessment.

Consent is the process of agreement on surgery between patient and surgeon
Pre-assessment is getting al the testing and preparation done as an out-patient before the surgery

The General Medical Council covers England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales as the regulatory body and publishes these rules on consent which must be followed by all surgeons

http://www.gmc-uk.org/static/documents/content/Con...

Pre-assessment is locally led and really just a way of covering as much info before admitting the patient. In the bad old days patients were all admitted the night before big-ish ops for blood tests etc and the ones who had abnormal results got cancelled. Now we do it in advance.

HTH