The Planned Surgery Unit and Preadmission clinic is located at 301 Timor Street, Warrnambool
We are a team of nurses and administration officers and our role is to optimise and prepare you for your planned surgical journey, from the point of referral for surgery to your admission to hospital.
If you need surgery, your specialist sends a referral to the Planned Surgery Unit. You are then placed on the Planned Surgery Preparation List and treated in turn. The amount of time you wait for your surgery depends on your urgency category.
Your category is determined by your specialist.
The three urgency categories are:
Category 1- Urgent – Admission is preferable within 30 days – Admission for a condition that has the potential to deteriorate quickly to the point that it might become an emergency.
Category 2– Semi-Urgent – Admission is desirable within 90 days – Admission for a condition causing some pain, dysfunction, but is not likely to deteriorate quickly or become an emergency.
Category 3– Non-Urgent – Admission within 365 days is desirable – Admission for a condition causing minimal or no pain, dysfunction or disability, which is unlikely to deteriorate quickly and does not have the potential to become an emergency.
We aim to treat patients within these time limits.
The nurses in Planned Surgery Unit will assess your health before you are given a date for surgery. This starts by reviewing your Patient Health Questionnaire which is part of the paperwork that you fill out with your specialist in their private rooms or in the Specialist Outpatient Clinic. To ensure we have all the relevant health history information, the questionnaire needs to be completed fully, including height, weight, and current medications.
Our nurses may also call you to ask some further questions about your health. This helps us to decide if you need any appointments or tests before your surgery.
If you need a preadmission appointment before your surgery we will contact you to make an appointment and this could be done via phone, telehealth or in person.
Preadmission clinic is part of the Planned Surgery Unit.
The role of the preadmission clinic is to make sure you are fit for surgery from a surgical and an anaesthetic perspective. It is also to make sure you have all the information you need before your admission to hospital. You may see a nurse, a doctor, an anaesthetist, a pharmacist, a physiotherapist, an occupational therapist, or a specialist nurse depending on the type of surgery you are having.
You may be removed from the planned surgery preparation list if you;
Most appointments take about one – two hours. This will depend on the number of people involved in your care.
Please bring in your medications, own walking or ambulatory aids, and any other important information relating to your procedure.
If you need a medical certificate when attending appointments please tell our staff on the day.
You do not need to fast for your preadmission appointment. You only need to fast when you are coming for your surgery, or if your doctor asks you to fast for blood tests.
It is helpful if you try hard to take the first surgery date we give you, but you don’t have to. You can decline offers of surgery on two separate occasions for personal reasons ie work commitments or holidays. You must take the third surgery date we offer you or we may take you off the preparation list. There is also a set length of time that you can postpone your surgery which is dependent on the Category you have been assessed as. This is as per the guidelines set by the Department of Health.
If you are listed as a:
Category 1 – you can postpone your surgery for no longer than 30 days
Category 2 – you can postpone your surgery for no longer than 90 days
Category 3 – you can postpone your surgery for no longer than 180 days
Please note, this does not apply if you postpone surgery due to medical reasons or you are clinically unfit.
Once the referral is received from your specialist it is coded then added to the Preparation List. This is when the days will start counting. Your days will stop counting if:
South West Healthcare has surgeons operating at our Warrnambool and Camperdown hospitals. We ensure that your surgery will be completed at the most appropriate site for you and your surgical requirements.
If calling between:
If your surgery is the next day and you are calling during the following hours:
For more information, please visit the following resources
www.safercare.vic.gov.au/consumer-resources/my-surgical-journey