Radiology - Attending the Interventional Radiology Day Case Unit at the Royal Oldham Hospital

Introduction

Welcome to the Interventional Radiology (IR) Day Case Unit at the Royal Oldham Hospital.

We extend a warm welcome to you and hope that your stay with us is as pleasant as possible. For most people a stay in hospital, however brief, is a daunting prospect. To try and allay any fears you may have, we have produced this leaflet for you. It contains general information about your admission, procedure and discharge. If you have any queries, no matter how small, please telephone the IR Day Case Unit.

Should you have any problems regarding your condition or when you arrive home following your discharge, please contact the IR Day Case Unit for advice.

What you need to know

You need to make arrangements for a responsible adult to be able to take you home by car or taxi. You need to be looked after by a responsible adult for 24 hours following discharge home.

We ask you to inform us if you cannot attend for your procedure so that we can offer the appointment to another waiting patient.

Your radiology procedure will involve you being in the IR Day Case Unit for a number of hours and there are no facilities for your relatives or visitors to stay with you. Please inform your escort home that you will contact them when you are ready to go home. Please ensure that you have the correct telephone number for your escort.

If you require a carer to assist you with your needs, please inform the radiology clerk when you arrive in the IR Day Case Unit.

If you know that you will have difficulty communicating with the nurses and doctors, an interpreter can be booked and will attend the unit with you on the day. The elective access clerks will arrange the interpreter when your appointment is made. As per Trust policy, we cannot use a family member to interpret.

You will have a telephone consent clinic call prior to your appointment. This appointment will be booked with you at a convenient time.

If you normally wear glasses, please make sure that you bring them with you so that you see and read the relevant legal paperwork which must be signed on the day before you can have your procedure.
 
If for any reason it is felt that your procedure needs to be postponed for further investigation or treatment, or advisable for you to be treated as an in-patient, we will discuss this with you and the appropriate arrangements will be made.

We will have contacted you by telephone for an appointed pre- procedure telephone assessment prior to making the procedure appointment for you.

Please bring a paper or book to read whilst you are in the unit as there is no television facility.

Day of Admission to the Interventional Radiology Day Case Unit

On the morning of your admission you may have a light breakfast with plenty of fluids to keep you hydrated.

If sedation has already been discussed with you, you must not eat anything for six hours before your procedure. You may drink water up to two hours before your procedure. You will have been given instructions prior to your admission.

Medications

Please bring all of your medications with you including the times that you take them and the dosage.

Please ensure your medications are in their original package/box.

Please ensure you also bring any inhalers that you may be using.

If you normally take any medication in the mornings, please continue to take them unless you have been instructed not to take them. Your tablets and medications will be discussed with you during your pre-procedure telephone assessment and you may be asked to stop taking certain blood thinning tablets and diabetes medication.

Continue to take medication as normal following your discharge home.

Valuables

Please do not bring with you large sums of money or articles of great value. The Northern Care Alliance cannot accept responsibility for the loss of patients’ property.

Staff and Training

An important part of the role of the hospital is to train members of the health professions, which cannot be achieved without your co-operation. Medical students, student nurses, radiography students and other staff undergoing training in our hospitals are attached to the team responsible for your care. We hope that you will agree to co-operate with our students. If, however, you do not wish to take part in any medical, nursing, radiography or other teaching work, you are entitled to refuse without your treatment being affected in anyway. In this situation you should inform the nurse in charge of your care as soon as possible.

The Interventional Radiology Day Case Unit

On arrival you must report to the radiology main reception desk. A nurse will then be allocated to look after you and plan your care during your stay. The nurse will explain more about the unit, prepare you for your procedure, ensure all the relevant information is correct and answer any questions you may have.

Prior to your procedure you will meet the Consultant Interventional Radiologist and if you have not already done so, you will be asked to sign a consent form. You will also have a small plastic cannula (tube) placed in a vein in your arm. This cannula is placed so that we have access to one of your veins should we need to administer any intravenous fluids in the event of any bleeding during or after the procedure. You will be asked to change into a hospital gown and paper pants prior to your procedure.

Please be aware that your admission time is not your procedure time. Once seen by the radiology nurse and radiologist on the day of your procedure, you may then have a wait of one to two hours before your procedure. Please bring some reading material with you if you wish.
 
Your procedure will take place in the interventional x-ray room next to the IR Day Case Unit. You may be asked to walk into the room with the nurse that will be looking after you during your procedure. You will be assisted onto the x-ray bed where you will lie for the duration of the procedure. You will have a nurse looking after you throughout the procedure as well as the team of doctors, nurses and radiographers involved in the actual procedure.

After the procedure

When your procedure is over you will be transferred straight on to your trolley in the intervention room and taken back to the radiology IR day case unit where you started your journey. You will then spend a period of recovery resting on the trolley whilst a nurse monitors your recovery from the procedure. You will spend between one and five hours in the IR day case unit depending on the procedure that you have had.

Before you are discharged home, you must feel well enough to go home and you must have completed the specified recovery period. You will have been offered a snack and hot/cold drink whilst you are recovering.

Discharge

When we are happy to allow you to go home, you may arrange for someone to come and collect you.

It is essential that a responsible adult accompanies you home.

You will be given some instructions to follow for the next 24 hours:

• Instructions about driving, operating machinery, making important decisions will be dependent upon the procedure that you have had
• Do not make yourself inaccessible to your carer
• Do not take strenuous exercise
• Do not drink alcohol
• Do not look after children on your own
• We advise that you have a supply of painkillers at home

Local Anaesthetic

The effects of local anaesthetic should wear off within a few hours. If you feel any discomfort, take your usual painkillers.

It is advisable to rest at home for the remainder of the day. You may eat and drink normally.

You may be given painkillers before going home. Take these regularly as prescribed for the first 48 hours.

Sedation

If you have had sedation you should obey the following instructions as these sedatives an stay in your body for 24 hours.

• Do not drive a car or ride a bike as your insurance will not cover you if you have an accident
• Do not operate any machinery or electrical appliances
• Do not drink alcohol
• Do not cook or handle pans and kettles
• Do not lock the toilet/bathroom door or make yourself inaccessible to your carer
• Do not make important decisions or sign documents
• Do not look after your children on your own

Self-Certification

If employees are off work for 7 days or less, they do not need to give their employer a fit note or other proof of sickness from a healthcare professional. When they return to work, their employer can ask them to confirm they’ve been off sick. This is called ‘self-certification’. The employer and employee will agree on how the employee should do this. They might need to fill in a form or send details of their sick leave by email.

Correspondence

If we want to see you again, an out-patient appointment will be sent to you in the post.

Before discharge you will be given verbal and written information about your aftercare.

For further information or to answer any queries you may have, please contact the Interventional Radiology Day Case Unit at Oldham during the hours Monday – Friday 8am - 5pm on 0161 778 5314 or 0161 778 5414.