Coming into The Holly hospital

Before you come into hospital for treatment, it is vital that you follow any individual instructions given in your confirmation letter. For example, you may be required to refrain from eating and/or drinking prior to your operation. Please also observe any directions regarding x-rays, blood tests or other tests before admission.

Your consultant will advise whether you should continue to take any regular medication prior to your operation. But, please contact us if you are currently taking any blood thinning medication or if you have a pacemaker fitted.

Please ensure you return the pre-admission questionnaire to us before your stay, as we use the information provided to plan your care. We also need to know if you or a member of your family has been an inpatient at another hospital within the last six months, or if you are a resident in a nursing home. If so, you will need to be screened for MRSA before you come into hospital.

Pre-operative assessment clinic

Depending on the surgery you are having, you may be required to attend a pre-operative assessment clinic before your procedure.

Special requirements

Please let us know of any special requirements in advance. This may involve arranging an interpreter, a special diet or observing your religious practices. You may prefer to discuss and receive your care from members of the same sex.

What to bring with you

• Nightwear
• Casual clothing to wear towards the end of your recuperation or during any post-operative physiotherapy
• Warm clothing as the process of undergoing surgery can reduce your temperature
• Personal toiletries
• Books or magazines to read during your stay
• Any medication you are currently taking in the original labelled containers
• Any relevant x-rays you may have
• Your completed admission questionnaire and insurance documentation, if applicable

We strongly recommend that you do not bring any valuables, jewellery, large amounts of cash, credit cards or cheque book.

Arriving at the hospital

Your time of arrival will have been confirmed in your admission letter. Whilst your time of admission does not always determine the time of your operation, it is important that you arrive on time as your consultant and anaesthetist will want to meet you before your operation.

We have limited paid for parking at the hospital. However, patients are usually advised not to drive for 24 hours after surgery so we would recommend you ask a relative or friend to drop you off and collect you again on departure.

To ensure patients are safely prepared for surgery, as well as strict exclusion criteria, we have a rigorous pre-operative and anaesthetic assessment, ensuring all patients are fully optimised to reduce the risk of complications and/or subsequent transfers for higher level of care.

When we cannot provide safe care, we will transfer our patients to our local NHS Trust, with whom we have a service level agreement; they have the facilities to provide higher levels of care (HDU and ICU).

Our transfers over 2022-2023 were due to patients who required level of care that could not be provided at the Nuffield Health The Holly Hospital, any patients transferred out are reviewed and discussed at our Resuscitation and Critical Care Committee.