Contact & post-operative assessment

If you are worried now

If there is difficulty breathing, chest pain, coughing blood, bleeding from a wound that does not stop with firm pressure, a leg more swollen and warm than the other, confusion, drowsiness that is getting worse, or a severe headache, go to the nearest emergency department immediately or call emergency services. Say what operation you had, the date, and what you are seeing. This website is not an emergency channel and is not monitored as one.

When to call rather than attend

Fever with spreading redness, heat, pus or a foul discharge, pain that is worsening or out of proportion, a wound that has opened or a gap or bulge at the incision, and vomiting that will not settle are assessed the same day: telephone the treating team, and if you cannot reach them, attend. Pain the agreed plan is not holding, a wound weeping a little clear fluid, nausea, constipation, or feeling low are a call made soon rather than waited for. If you are unsure which you are looking at, describe the finding and let the team decide.

What to have ready when you call

The name of the operation, the date it was performed, and the hospital that performed it. The finding, with the hour it began and the hour it changed. Whether it is improving or worsening. The medicines you are taking, including anything for pain. Your temperature if you have taken it. And the one thing you are most worried about, said first rather than last.

What the assessment covers

The examination records the operation and its date, looks at the wound rather than a photograph of it, reads the temperature with the pulse and the general state, and asks directly about breathing, chest pain and the legs, because the findings that need emergency care now appear away from the incision. Tests are used where the result decides between one plan and another. You should leave with a clear answer: what is being done, what is being watched for, when it will be reviewed, and who to contact in between.

Fees, records and privacy

This site does not quote prices, because the plan depends on the findings and is discussed directly with you. What was seen and what was done is documented so that the record follows you, and photographs or wound records taken at each visit are what allow a change to be judged rather than remembered. Clinical photographs are not published or used for teaching without a separate consent you are free to refuse.