Anaesthesia Assessment Clinic | Royal United Hospitals Bath

Anaesthesia

Anaesthetic Assessment Clinic (AAC)

Before having your operation all patients are carefully assessed to help ensure surgery and anaesthesia are as safe as possible. This process of preoperative care helps plan your journey through the hospital. The Anaesthetic Assessment Clinic (AAC) plays an important role in this process.

The clinic provides time and space to discuss your health, any medical conditions you have, and how these may affect your anaesthetic, surgery and recovery.

Your Pre-Assessment

STEP 1: Complete a health questionnaire

For most people, this will involve completing an online questionnaire using their smartphone, laptop or tablet. The questionnaire will ask questions about your health, medications you take and any other issues that might impact your surgical journey.

STEP 2: Assessment by a specialist nurse

Your questionnaire will be reviewed by one of our specialist nurses in the Surgical Pre-Assessment Clinic. If you have no complex health concerns you may proceed from here without any further appointments, test, or consultations. For others, our specialist nurses will liaise with anaesthetists and surgeons, ensuring that patients are given individualised advice about their admission, including the management of any existing health problems.

You may need to come into hospital for a face-to-face assessment. If you come into hospital, you will meet:

Pre-assessment specialist nurse
Health care assistant
Anaesthetist (if required)

During your appointment, our Health Care Assistants will measure your blood pressure, height, and weight.

You may also have additional tests carried out, for example:

Swabs for MRSA (methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus) a type of bacteria that can cause infections. Any infection must be treated before surgery
Blood tests
Urine test (to test for infections, which must be treated before you can have surgery)
ECG (a tracing of the activity of your heart)

STEP 3: (If required) Assessment by an Anaesthetist

In some cases, patients are also asked to come in for an appointment with a Consultant or Senior Anaesthetist at the Anaesthetic Assessment Clinic (AAC). This is usually arranged to discuss and plan the care of existing medical problems or to explore the risks and benefits of surgery for an individual in advance of the surgery.

The aims of the AAC are to:

Provide information about your anaesthetic and answer questions and concerns
Optimise the health of each patient before surgery
Reduce the risks of surgery
Explore the specific risks and benefits of surgery for each individual

Sometimes, the anaesthetist at the Anaesthetic Assessment Clinic may decide that further tests or referrals are needed prior to surgery. In some cases, these may unfortunately delay surgery, this is done to ensure you are in the best possible health before your operation.